In the last days of the second world war a German U-Boat sinks a British merchant ship on the Orinoco river . As the survivors flounder in the river they are massacred by the Germans . One survivor is left , an Irishman called Murphy who becomes obsessed with revenge
All the ingredients of a very good war film are here . Big name star , sadistic Nazis , exotic locations and yet for some reason MURPHY'S WAR fails to take off completely . The Nazis are portrayed as fascist brutes and the film does revolve around Murphy's obsession with revenge . This might work very well in another medium but on film it doesn't translate very well because emotions are internalised and difficult to portray on screen . and this makes for a rather uninvolving film .MURPHY'S WAR does contain long sequences where no one speaks and while some people may admire the qualities of sound editing I didn't . The whole unlikely subplot of Murphy learns to fly a plane become redundant anyway and seems to be included simply to show off the sound editing as if to ask " Please can you give us an Oscar " . The film ends on a bitterly ironic plot turn and like PLAY DIRTY from around the same time leads the film to stick out in the mind but before we get to the cynical ending we have to endure something of a hard slog .
All the ingredients of a very good war film are here . Big name star , sadistic Nazis , exotic locations and yet for some reason MURPHY'S WAR fails to take off completely . The Nazis are portrayed as fascist brutes and the film does revolve around Murphy's obsession with revenge . This might work very well in another medium but on film it doesn't translate very well because emotions are internalised and difficult to portray on screen . and this makes for a rather uninvolving film .MURPHY'S WAR does contain long sequences where no one speaks and while some people may admire the qualities of sound editing I didn't . The whole unlikely subplot of Murphy learns to fly a plane become redundant anyway and seems to be included simply to show off the sound editing as if to ask " Please can you give us an Oscar " . The film ends on a bitterly ironic plot turn and like PLAY DIRTY from around the same time leads the film to stick out in the mind but before we get to the cynical ending we have to endure something of a hard slog .