Saints and Soldiers Plot
The movie opens three weeks after the Malmedy massacre (presumably January 14 - January 15, 1944) with American forces documenting the scene and recovering the bodies. Exposition is provided by a radio broadcast from London explaining what has happened and that those responsible will be found and dealt with appropriately.
The movie then goes to the day of the Malmedy massacre, December 17, 1944. The four initial, main characters receive some screen time, and all but one have some dialogue as they stand in a group as prisoners of war. Suddenly, one of the unnamed soldiers breaks from the group and attempts to escape. A German soldier screams for him to halt, and when he doesn't, he's gunned down. The remainder of the prisoners become restless, and a German officer fires a few bursts into the air. In response, a panic begins to break out. During a sudden scramble, an Allied prisoner grabs a rifle from a German soldier and shoots him with it. Another German, in turn, kills that soldier. As a result, some of the prisoners break to run, while a few try to stay put and keep calm. But when the Germans open fire on the prisoners, the entire group of Allied prisoners break and run. (See Malmedy massacre below.) Roughly half of them make it to the woods, and the rest die.
A German soldier manages to find Gould and another soldier hiding in the woods behind a fallen tree. The two surrender but the German shoots the other soldier with Gould, so Gould takes cover again. As the German is slowly advancing in order to shoot Gould, Deacon jumps the German and takes his rifle. The German surrenders, and Deacon lets him run off into the woods. Gould protests this by insisting that the German should have been killed. This sets up the initial tension between Gould and Deacon.
Back at the site of the massacre, two Germans are seen shooting survivors. Th..MoreThe movie opens three weeks after the Malmedy massacre (presumably January 14 - January 15, 1944) with American forces documenting the scene and recovering the bodies. Exposition is provided by a radio broadcast from London explaining what has happened and that those responsible will be found and dealt with appropriately.
The movie then goes to the day of the Malmedy massacre, December 17, 1944. The four initial, main characters receive some screen time, and all but one have some dialogue as they stand in a group as prisoners of war. Suddenly, one of the unnamed soldiers breaks from the group and attempts to escape. A German soldier screams for him to halt, and when he doesn't, he's gunned down. The remainder of the prisoners become restless, and a German officer fires a few bursts into the air. In response, a panic begins to break out. During a sudden scramble, an Allied prisoner grabs a rifle from a German soldier and shoots him with it. Another German, in turn, kills that soldier. As a result, some of the prisoners break to run, while a few try to stay put and keep calm. But when the Germans open fire on the prisoners, the entire group of Allied prisoners break and run. (See Malmedy massacre below.) Roughly half of them make it to the woods, and the rest die.
A German soldier manages to find Gould and another soldier hiding in the woods behind a fallen tree. The two surrender but the German shoots the other soldier with Gould, so Gould takes cover again. As the German is slowly advancing in order to shoot Gould, Deacon jumps the German and takes his rifle. The German surrenders, and Deacon lets him run off into the woods. Gould protests this by insisting that the German should have been killed. This sets up the initial tension between Gould and Deacon.
Back at the site of the massacre, two Germans are seen shooting survivors. The Germans then leave in a convoy. Kendrick, who has been feigning dead, gets up and runs in to the forest.
Gould and Deacon are soon joined by two other survivors of the massacre. They introduce themselves to each other (but where they are from actually comes later). Private Steven Gould (Alexander Niver) is a Medic from Brooklyn Heights, New York City. He introduces Private Shirley "Shirl" Kendrick (Lawrence Bagby), who is also with the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion from Louisiana. Staff Sergeant Gordon Gunderson[1] (Peter Holden) with the 101st Airborne Division is from the south side of Chicago. He introduces Corporal Nathan "Deacon" Greer (Corbin Allred) also with the 101st from Snowflake, Arizona. The others see Deacon looking at a photo of his wife.
Kendrick wants to immediately rejoin his unit, but Gunderson figures that since they're behind enemy lines and that the rifle that they have only has four shots, they'll have a better chance of surviving if they hide out until the allies take over the territory again. They assume this will only be a couple of days. They walk for a bit and soon find an abandoned building and hide out in it. While hiding, a German patrol comes along, so the soldiers hide under the floor while the Germans occupy the upstairs room and eat a meal. Suddenly, they all hear a distant explosion and Deacon overhears (and understands) the German radio conversation about a plane crashing. The Germans then leave. The Americans emerge and decide to leave as well.
The American soldiers find a British pilot who parachuted from the crashing plane, RAF pilot, Flight Sergeant Oberon Winley. When the Americans release the parachute harness, Winley falls down and immediately grabs Kendrick, holding a pistol to him. Winley demands proof that the men who cut him down are indeed Americans, and not Germans in disguise. Eventually, Winley is convinced and lets Kendrick go. Winley also refuses to share his cigarettes with Kendrick, setting up some tension between the two of them.
It soon becomes known that Winley had been sent on a mission to gather intelligence about this German advance and had found out that it was a major offensive. (This offensive later becomes known as the "Battle of the Bulge".) Winley had been shot down by a German fighter before he'd been able to get back across the line. These five must then get to where they can get the intelligence back to Allied troops while the German panzer divisions are advancing in the same direction. The line is currently about 15 to 20 miles away, and Winley is the only one who can interpret the notes that he took in the plane.
Deacon hasn't slept for three or four days and Gould has noticed that Deacon is very edgy. He tells Gunderson about this and suggests that it might be a bad idea to have the rifle in Deacon's possession. Gunderson assures Gould that Deacon should keep the rifle because, "he's the best shot I know." Gould is still unhappy. Shortly afterward, Deacon has a hallucination in the woods and breaks down. Gould is infuriated by this. Gunderson sits down with Gould and quietly explains why Deacon is so edgy.
"Last Thursday, we ran into some Krauts in a little town in the Elsenborn Ridge. They were pulling out, but this one little bastard was holed-up inside a church. I sent Deacon to take him out. It was dark in there. Somebody took a shot at him. So he threw in a grenade, sprayed the room. Went up and took the guy out. In the room ... was two women and six kids. It was a mess. When it was over, Deac just... flipped out. Our C.O. gave me a jeep to have him checked out at St. Vith. We got captured about an hour before you guys ran into them at Malmedy. You don't mention this to him. Do you understand me, Gould?"
Afterward, the men move on, but Kendrick suddenly falls through the roof of an old building that had been covered by the snow. Due to his accident, they decide to search for shelter. Eventually, they come across a house and hide in the ground floor room. When Gunderson hears opera music coming from the upstairs, he investigates. There he finds a woman and girl who speak French, Catherine and Sophie Theary, respectively. He brings them down and introduces them to the other soldiers. Catherine kisses each of the soldiers on each cheek, but Sophie kisses Deacon, and only Deacon. Catherine and Sophie then leave. This encounter affects Deacon, and he is then able to sleep for the first time in days.
The snow storm gets worse, so Gunderson figures that the Germans will be pinned down and immobile. He suggests staying the night where they are. But Winley insists that he must get the information to the Allied troops so he leaves during the storm, knowing that he probably won't make it. The others are sure he will die in the cold.
When the storm lets up a little, Catherine brings some bread to the soldiers. While she is feeding the soldiers, two Germans arrive in a vehicle. To divert the Germans from the room where the Americans are hiding, she goes out to talk to them. One of the Germans is scouting the building while the other takes an interest in Catherine as a woman and tries to rape her. She yells, and Deacon hears the screaams. Deacon bursts out of the building and tells the Germans to surrender. The second German, who had come to see about the commotion, drops his rifle. The one holding Catherine pulls his pistol and Deacon shoots him. The other soldier flees. Deacon goes for the German soldier's rifle, and shoots several times but misses. Gunderson runs after the escaping German soldier, but fails to find him.
Winley arrives shortly thereafter, with a German prisoner, the one who had escaped. Gould, Gunderson, Kendrick and Winley are vigorously debating whether to shoot the German now or not. When the German looks up, Deacon recognizes him and says "Rudi?" Deacon and Rudi hug, talk briefly in German and then Deacon introduces him as Rudolph Gertz. Deacon tells them that while a missionary in Berlin, he had taught Rudi's family. The fact Deacon had missed shooting Rudi is seen as a freak coincidence. Enthusiastic to see each other, Deacon and Rudi sit against the wall opposite the door and talk most of the night while the others sit at a table discussing the two of them. Catherine visits them later, giving each of the Allied soldiers a cookie and a special German pastry to Rudi. Rudi uses the tinfoil that was used to wrap the pastry to form the figure of an angel. At midnight, Gould begins his turn at watch.
In the morning, before sunrise, Sophie discovers the tin angel on a window sill outside of the building. Gould (who has the watch) wakes up and discovers that Rudi is gone. He immediately accuses Deacon of having let him go, but Gunderson defends Deacon. Deacon then admits that he had let Rudi go, in exchange for information. Rudi has told Deacon where the German troops are massed and has suggested a route to get through the lines, about five miles away.
The German vehicle is almost out of gasoline, so they raid it for weapons and set out on the route that they have been given. They soon come upon a small group of German soldiers. While they are deciding whether to wait or to go around, Gunderson is fatally shot from the other direction and despite an attempt by Gould to treat him, dies within a few seconds. Deacon chases the sniper and kills him, but the other Germans become aware of the gunfire, seek out its source and begin firing on the Allied soldiers. Winley is hit in the leg, and as a result is slowed down. After much running, the Allied soldiers manage to make it to the remains of a stone building where Gould removes the bullet from Winley's leg. They exchange fire with the Germans and kill many of them. The soldiers manage to escape in two groups. While carrying Winley, A German soldier fires at the two and hits Kendrick in the stomach, fatally wounding him. The scene momentarily switches to Gould and Deacon running down a shollow trench with Germans pursuin them. They kill the pursuing Germans with a grenade, then continue running. The scene then switiches back to Winley. Winley draws out his pistol and in turn kills the German who shot Kendrick. In sorrow, Winley breaks down as he attempts to give dying Kendrick a smoke, but his lighter fails to ignite, and Kendrick dies as Winley attempts to light his cigarette. Winley manages to make it a little further but falls in a stream. Deacon and Gould find him on the bank, wet and very cold. While they are caring for Winley, Rudolph "Rudi" Gertz finds them. He tells them where a jeep is that they can use, and goes off in the direction of the pursuing Germans.
The three remaining Allied soldiers strip three dead German soldiers for their uniforms, don the uniforms and equip themselves with weapons found on the dead Germans, and take the jeep. The German front line is about half-a-mile away, and the trio knows that they must find a way to get through it without being killed. When they reach the Germans, they are ordered to stop. The German officer who stopped them explains the situation, then asks Gould a question in German which he cannot respond to. To grab the officer's attention, Deacon yells something in German, asking for help with the jeep in the mud. In response, several German soldiers start pushing the jeep out of the mud that it is resting in. But the officer remains edgy, so Deacon drives straight through the crowd of Germans and speeds toward the distant Allied front line. The Germans, in turn, open fire on the jeep.
The Allied forward observers see the Allied jeep with men in German uniforms approaching, but don't quite know what to do. Seeing a Nazi flag in the hood, they try to stop the jeep with mortar fire. The soldiers survive a crash into a ditch, and begin exchanging fire with the Germans. When the American troops see them fighting other Germans, they decide that they must be Allied and they provide cover fire. Many Germans die in this skirmish. Deacon tells Gould to take Winley and go; he'll be right behind. However, Deacon is killed by a German sniper. Gould manages to escape with Winley. They reach the allies, who take the two of them prisoner because they are wearing German uniforms. Shortly, Winley is sent off in a jeep with his information.
The Allied troops are able to take the territory some time later. With the fighting over, Gould walks over to a body bag and lifts the cover, and sees Deacon's body. Gould takes the small Bible that Deacon had offered him earlier, but leaves the photo in it with Deacon's body. Some German prisoners then walk by under the guard of Allied soldiers. One of them is Rudi. Gould nods at him and Rudi smiles. Gould, who hated all Germans at the beginning, then goes to treat a wounded German soldier.
This turns out to be the same German soldier who hit Gould with his rifle in the opening scene and was later jumped by Deacon after he killed a soldier standing next to Gould when they tried to surrender. They recognize each other but, Gould kneels down to treat his wounds. The film ends as the scene shows a long Allied convoy heading down the road.
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