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Many World War II movies are large in scale consisting of battles, explosions, and a great deal of sacrifice. Michael Akkerman, the writer and director of Reveille, decided to take a different approach. He employs a fly-on-the-wall approach that reveals more intimate moments about the humanity and horror that both American and German solders experience, along with the decisions that they have to make. It focuses more on the personal interactions. There is very little action as guns are rarely drawn but, in the lull of battle, Akkerman directs the camera at other more ordinary moments.
Akkerman’s script moves seamlessly between prisoners and soldiers, and soldiers who turn into prisoners in 1943 central Italy. We overhear conversations, and most soldiers indeed share the same issue – how to return home. One German soldier writes his wife frequently, even when he hasn’t received a letter in over a year. And an American soldier speaks, “What else is there,” expecting to get back home to “drinkin’ and screwin’.”
But this certainly does not mean Akkerman avoids cliches. Each caricature includes the self-centered drunk, the by-the-book sergeant, and the fresh-faced recruit. It is the intense honesty along with warm interactions that sets Reveille above your average war film. It feels lived in. One can compare it to William A. Wellman’s Battlefield from 1949, which was also low budget and targeted a small number of grunts. Both films delve into the mindset of soldiers and how they mentally overcoming such extreme conditions. What does put Akkerman’s movie apart from others is the strong focus on the historical constructs.
He had spoken to the families of World War II veterans for a more qualitative perspective to construct a more unfiltered version of what actually took place. This profoundly adds to the film’s raw nature, if not in regards to the graphic violence that is an undeniable aspect of warfare, there is an underlying emotional curtain that needs to be raised on the mindset of the soldiers.
Akkerman along with the cinematographer Cooper Shine are able to maximize the setting (the Ozarks as a substitute for Italy). A large portion of the story is set in a cave, and without being ostentatious, Shine is able to keep the different shots balanced. Sound designer Kevin Thorn deserves praise as well. Although all of the explosions are offscreen, he manages to make it seem as though the soldiers are enduring an onslaught, and amid the most silent periods, he finds a way to simplifies putting us in the soldier’s position by using only ambient noise.
Overall, this film manages to be powerful when necessary and extremely poignant without glorifying war or going into sentimental territory, and all of this is accomplished on a very limited budget.
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