The Last Front

Writers: Julien Hayet-Kerknawi and Kate Wood

Director: Julien Hayet-Kerknawi

There are few home front movies representing the First World War and even fewer that depict civilian experiences in Belgium as the Germany army passed through towns and villages which makes Julien Hayet-Kerknawi’s new film The Last Front both unusual and welcome. Starring Iain Glen as a farmer forced to fight back, the film offers some interesting personal perspectives but blends its style with later action and Second World War movies that leaves its characterisation stranded.

When the Germany army passes through his farm looking for resources, Leonard struggles to protect his family from their off-kilter commanding officer. Forced to retreat to the local village, Leonard Lambert inadvertently becomes the leader of the resistance but when Lieutenant Laurentz comes looking for him, Leonard is forced to flee through the Belgian countryside where a decisive encounter with the Germany army beckons.

Hayet-Kerknawi’s film has an interesting starting point and some of the early scenes depicting ordinary rural life and the family concerns plaguing the Lambert family are well presented, suggesting groups of people far from the action but finding the impacts of war suddenly at their front door. Set in the early days of the war when the German army was still mobile and before entrenchment began, the contrast between Leonard’s detached existence and the intensity of combat coming through Europe for the first time that century is well presented.

But Hayet-Kerknawi and co-writer Kate Wood get carried away, imposing a Second World War psychology on the lead villain character that seems both extreme and highly unlikely at this stage in the war. Although it is feasible that prisoners of war might be executed the scale of Captain Laurentz’s behaviour is out of keeping with the period of war represented in The Last Front when very little fighting has taken place. The summary murder of civilians and the obsession with resistance leaders, along with a flouting of military authority in a period that still adhered to moral rules of war make no sense and seem to belong to the ideology-driven military attitude of the later conflict – even a year or two later when Laurentz might have gone through Verdun or the Somme maybe. If Laurentz is a jaded regular soldier, Hayet-Kerknawi and Wood never find out, sending their cartoony baddie on a rampage with no consequences and despite threats of court martial later, no one on his own side actually tries to stop him. Germany outraged the world when it declared unrestricted U-boat warfare in 1917 so killing unarmed non-combatants in 1914 is just beyond credibility. Of course fictional films can stretch the truth but then why not just set this film in another time period?

The same issue afflicts the rest of the film with a particularly poor script full of platitudes and dramatic sentiment that undermines character depth. Everyone is quite simply good or bad and in the rush to exciting action scenes there is no time to really care about the characters or get to grips with their various motivations. Amidst the chaos of war, Iain Glenn’s Leonard is a steadfast rock, carrying the film and giving it meaning almost single-handed. As much as he rescues some of his neighbours, he also saves the audience too, taking on a credible action role that keeps investment. Art imitates life as Glen’s Leonard knows what needs to be done to get this film across the line and very much steps up to the plate.

Hayet-Kerknawi borrows a little from Sam Mendes and Justin Kurzel in lighting his fire and smoke-filled battle scenes, visually echoing Skyfall, 1917 and Macbeth. And it is interesting to see fight scenes taking place in woods which were very much part of the First World War landscape, but The Last Front lets itself down with overexcitement in its action scenes rather than the characters we need to invest in.

The Last Front is screening in UK cinemas from 1 November.