Die Brücke / The Bridge

This critically acclaimed film, based on the 1958 novel of the same name by journalist and writer Gregor Dorfmeister, was the first major anti-war film from post-World War II West Germany. In the waning days of World War II, as American forces overtake Germany, seven teenage boys are pulled from their small town's school as emergency conscripts to repel the advancing Americans. Given almost no training, they're assigned the task of defending a small bridge that's scheduled to be demolished. But when the boys' commander is mistaken for a deserter before he can give their orders, they're stranded in front of an advancing enemy with no idea what they're supposed to do. The film was timely in West Germany as the Bundeswehr had only recently been created in 1955 with conscription in Germany beginning in 1956. It received several international prizes, notably the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.