What’s it about?

In the midst of the Great War, Colonel “Hellfire Jack” Norton-Griffiths hatches a daring plan to break the deadly stalemate at the Battle of Messines. He recruits a group of local miners to dig a tunnel underneath no man’s land, from the Allied trenches to the German trenches, in hopes of successfully setting off bombs from below the German line and saving the Allied war effort.

What did we think?

Andrew Danyals says: It’s nice to escape the non-stop grimness that usually accompanies war films. While it still has the inescapable horror, the different focal points of THE WAR BELOW make for a fascinating watch. It touches on the human side of the war with the desperate plan to recruit miners to dig underneath no man’s land in an attempt to end the war more quickly.

I think any avid filmgoer is going to find it difficult to ignore the general similarity to ARMAGEDDON and you’d expect this historical drama to have more tension and depth. Oddly, the incredibly fast pace of the film makes it difficult for the viewer to really dwell or for the tension to build. It detracts from an interesting story that would have benefitted from some slower build-up and exploration.

Despite that, the premise is interesting enough to warrant recomendation. This low-budget flick isn’t going to win awards and is far from me perfect, but it is a fascinating watch. War from a different angle. Literally.