‘The Last Front’ Review: An Engrossing Old-School World War I Melodrama of Brave Civilians and Despicable Invaders

The only confusing thing about “The Last Front” is its title. Set at the outbreak of World War I, this fictive tale of invading German forces wreaking havoc in the Belgian countryside depicts just one arena for violence in a conflict that would drag on for another four years. Otherwise, Julien Hayet-Kerknawi’s debut feature is a sturdy, engrossing drama conveyed in a somewhat retro mode. While the director and co-writer has shared that he “wanted to stay away from the traditional black-and-white good guys versus bad guys trope” with this film, Hayet-Kerknawi’s actually made a movie so driven by those exact moral divisions that it recalls the propaganda-heavy entertainments churned out by studios during both World Wars.

Such narrative dynamics can play corny or crude. But “The Last Front,” in limited release from Enigma on Friday, is deftly handled, eking considerable force from its familiar faceoff between besieged civilians, led by Iain Glen’s reluctant-leader farmer, and Joe Anderson, as a truly detestable officer in the Kaiser’s army. This English-language production may not be among the most memorable period war films in recent years, but its straightforward, sometimes brutal progress and assured craftsmanship will more than satisfy audiences looking for something other than simple combat spectacle.

Things begin ominously with German troops in August 1914 — presumably just days after the declaration of war — marching through Flanders, en route to what they assume will be an easy conquest of France. One town they travel through is eerily quiet, the residents preferring to greet the invaders by retreating behind locked doors and shuttered windows. But a lone shot rings out, killing a soldier. Never mind that it turns out to have been fired by one panicked local adolescent, operating alone; Lt. Laurentz (Anderson) retaliates by raiding homes and executing anyone found there by firing squad, including women and children. This does not go down well with his superior (and father), Commander Maximilian (Philippe Brenninkmeyer), who arrives too late to stop the carnage. 

A few miles away, war has not yet reached a neighboring community. There the most pressing concern, at least for two families, is the forbidden romance between Adrien (James Downie) and Louise (Sasha Luss). That liaison is opposed by both their fathers — widowed farmer Leonard Lambert (Glen) and wealthy Dr. Janssen (Koen De Bouw), respectively — for reasons of entrenched class division. 

But soon everyone has bigger things to worry about, as the Germans arrive to “take what they need” from the family farm. Psychotic bully Laurentz wastes little time turning an unpleasant confrontation into a lethally violent one. When news of this gratuitous cruelty reaches the nearest village, its citizens are torn between fleeing, hiding and fighting back. A false rumor brands Leonard as the head of an organized resistance — out of necessity, he soon finds himself actually taking that role. 

While it’s occasionally disconcerting that most of the principal figures seem quite British — Adrien even blurts “Oy!” when angered — the actors are expert enough to override that, as well some fairly superficial character writing. “The Last Front” moves too quickly for such things to become a problem, losing some momentum only when those protagonists still alive past the one-hour mark flee across the countryside, hoping to reach France before their pursuers reach them. That temporary slackening of tension pulls taut again with an effective action climax, with nocturnal imagery that highlights Xavier Van D’huynslager’s handsome widescreen cinematography. 

From the angelically blond doomed lovers to the bloodthirsty “dirty Hun” villain, there are a lot of elements here that might easily have collapsed into sentimental cliche and overstatement. But expanding ideas from his 2015 short “A Broken Man,” Hayet-Kerknawi avoids the potential pitfalls in his and Kate Wood’s tight screenplay. It’s a bit of a credibility lapse that the sternly disapproving Commander doesn’t yank his rogue lieutenant-son from the fray, given the degree of sadistic chaos he sows, particularly after dad calls him (accurately enough) a “monster.” Regardless, Anderson creates a vivid nemesis, whose ability to enflame viewer emotions recalls the title given Erich von Stroheim when he was playing similar roles in WWI melodramas over a century ago: “The Man You Love to Hate.”

While this is not a large-scale war drama, it has still been mounted with care in all design and tech quarters. Frederik Van de Moortel provides a serviceable orchestral score that, like everything else here, carries a certain sense of déjà vu yet conveys the required urgency and atmosphere.