Hemmed In
As World War II winds its way to an end a small German unit find themselves isolated from the rest of the German soldiers and surrounded by the allies. Despite it being blatantly obvious that they stand no chance their fanatical commander orders them to continue fighting.
Whilst "Steel Tempest" is not the first movie I have come across which focuses on the German side of the war it is the first which I believe to be a British production, directed by Bob Carruthers. That makes it a bit of a curious movie but also another one of those low budget movies which I would imagine features a handful of actors and then in the background a group of war recreationists. The end result is both interesting and ordinary.
The interesting part is really the effectiveness of the movie with Carruthers managing to deliver an engaging drama on a low budget. Yes at times the lighting of a scene spoils it or the acting is less than convincing but Carruthers keeps things moving at a decent pace so you find it easy to follow rather than becoming bogged down in detail. He also manages to interweave some impressive archive war footage to create atmosphere and make up for the budgets shortcomings although saying that some of the action is impressive considering the budget even if the effects of explosions look fake.
But whilst you have this opposite view of the war with it focussing on German troops who are hemmed in the story has the same elements you will find in more typical war movies. Internal conflict, fear and fanaticism which all combine to make it just another men at war movie.
What this all boils down to is that whilst "Steel Tempest" doesn't disguise that it is a low budget movie it does end up an engaging end product with smart use of archive war footage to make up for what the budget wouldn't extend to. Yet for the original idea the end result ends up mostly a cliche men at war movie.
