"Panzerfaust Der Kaiser"
1998
The most expensive movie ever made at the time of its release, with a staggering runtime of 3 hours and 43 minutes and over a decade of work gone into the project, Panzerfaust Der Kaiser, or The Kaiser's Armored Fist in the American release, was a war drama and historical movie centered around the 10 divisions of the 1st Expeditionary Force under the command of Omar Bradley sent to aid the Reichspakt during the second Weltkreig.
The movie begins following the second American Civil War, with MacArthur consolidating power as the American Caesar. After much convincing from Eisenhower, Bradley and other members of his staff, MacArthur is shown signing the bundle of bills collectively known as the Amnesty and Reconciliation Acts, which offered pardons to those who had fought for the defeated AUS, CSA and PSA; allowed the generals to return to the ranks of the US Army; allowed the companies that had sided with the other factions to stay in business; and even permitted union activity within the United States.
The movie then follows Bradley as he and other officers attempt to integrate their former enemies back into the Union. Bradley is shown to work closely with the top generals of the other factions, and the audience is given a brief summary of his attempts to incorporate the various doctrinal innovations that his former opponents had made into a single cohesive battle theory. The AUS under Patton had adopted an extremely aggressive armored approach that had given the Federals fits, the CSA's use of artillery had been top of the line and their ability to rapidly train officers had been second to none, and the PSA's ability to dig in and become unmovable at a moment's notice are all elaborated on by Bradley as he works to weld them together with the reformation that the Federal forces had undergone at the direction of Field Marshall Craig.
We are also shown a fairly rapid sequence showing the various pardoned companies working together on projects to demonstrate their affirmed loyalty to MacArthur's government. A new rifle is demonstrated, named the King CRAB after the four main companies involved in its creation: Colt, Remington, Auto-Ordinance, Browning. A joke is made about how it's a good thing that Smith & Wesson wasn't involved. New models of tanks, aircraft, artillery, and motorized vehicles are also swiftly demonstrated.
The movie then cuts to Europe, where the second Weltkreig has been raging for nearly two years. Two Sicilies had already fallen, Switzerland had been overtaken by Syndicalist revolutionaries, and with the Internationale on one side and Savinkov's Russia on the other, the Reichspakt is hard-pressed, losing ground slowly but surely on both fronts. Several scenes are shown of brave but outnumbered Reichspakt soldiers being pushed back.
Back in the US, we are introduced to several people that we will follow throughout the movie. A southern boy from Texas who had only been 16 when the war broke out and he'd joined the AUS as a crack shot named Connor Locke, a hulking factory worker from Detroit named Jesse Tabor who'd joined the CSA in the hopes of ending segregation and ushering in a more just society, a Federalist code talker known only as Klah, a medic from Oregon named Sophie Hahn who'd received three awards for courage under fire, and an amateur stunt flyer from Vermont who'd sat out the war in Canadian controlled New England named Meriwether Brown.
With the Reichspakt hard pressed, and neither the Russia nor the Internationale having any real way to reach and hurt them following the overthrow of the Syndicalist government in Mexico, MacArthur agrees to send 10 divisions and an attached air wing to Germany to try to support the Reichspakt, which was seen as the lesser evil compared to the Internationale or Russia.
From there, the movie turns into a whirlwind of action as the men and women of the Expeditionary Force try to come together through the hell of the war in Europe. Here the movie is praised for its masterful blending of character and action, as well as it's character development through action as the former foes must learn to put aside their grudges and simply be Americans again. Accurate set-pieces take us along with the 1st Expeditionary group, from the desperation of the Siege of Frankfurt to the joy of the Liberation of Brussels, from their heroic stand and almost complete annihilation at the Third Miracle of the House of Brandenburg to their triumphant assault as they led the charge to take Petrograd.
Each of the main characters is given ample opportunity to shine in some of the best practical effects ever put on film. Some have criticized the film for the romance between Connor and Sophie, however that aspect of the film has also received praise for showing the stress and strain of the war and the need for human contact and support even in the most trying of times.
And the times are trying indeed, the film does not shy away from blood and gore, or from the casualties. The expeditionary force is continually whittled down throughout the movie, until the end of the war in 1946, when only 19 of the original force remain.
The epilogue of the film shows a mixture of the bleak devastation of the war juxtaposed with the beginning of the rebuilding, and while the score was incredibly throughout the move, the uplifting chorus that slowly builds in strength blended with the haunting notes of grief and despair are a masterwork of using music to invoke emotions and heighten the scene.
The movie ends with a shot of the memorial to the 1st Expeditionary Force in Berlin, an upward shot at a herculean man with the flag of the US draped over his left shoulder and the flag of the German Empire draped over his right, bowed in an Atlas pose as he carries Germany, one hand wrapped around Silesia and the other holding Nancy as the breadth of the Empire rests on his broad shoulders.
In a 2010 poll, it was ranked as the 3rd best movie of all time, behind "Napoleon" and "Galaxy Battles".
