Hart's War (2002)

Director:

Gregory Hoblit

Writers (WGA):

John Katzenbach (novel)
Billy Ray (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Heroes Are Measured By What They Do.

Plot:

A law student becomes a lieutenant during World War II, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder.

Plot Keywords:

Honor | Racism | Murder | Prisoners Of War | Escape

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Col. William A. McNamara
Colin Farrell	...	Lt. Thomas W. Hart
Terrence Howard	...	Lt. Lincoln A. Scott
Cole Hauser	...	Staff Sgt. Vic W. Bedford
Marcel Iures	...	Col. Werner Visser
Linus Roache	...	Capt. Peter A. Ross
Vicellous Reon Shannon	...	Lt. Lamar T. Archer (as Vicellous Shannon)
Maury Sterling	...	Pfc. Dennis A. Gerber
Sam Jaeger	...	Capt. R.G. Sisk
Scott Michael Campbell	...	Cpl. Joe S. Cromin
Rory Cochrane	...	Sgt. Carl S. Webb
Sebastian Tillinger	...	Pvt. Bert D. 'Moose' Codman
Rick Ravanello	...	Maj. Joe Clary
Adrian Grenier	...	Pvt. Daniel E. Abrams
Michael Weston	...	Pfc. W. Roy Potts

Also Known As:

Das Tribunal (Austria) (Germany) [de]
En defensa del honor (Argentina) (Colombia) [es]
Война Харта (Russia) [ru]
A Guerra de Hart (Brazil) [pt]
Em Defesa da Honra (Portugal) [pt]
Hart háborúja (Hungary) [hu]
Hart's War (Finland) [fi]
Hartin sota (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Hartov rat (Serbia) [sr]
Hartova válka (Czech Republic) (TV title) [cs]
Hartova vojna (Slovakia) [sk]
I nyhta ton aihmaloton (Greece) [el]
Justice (Japan: English title) [en]
La guerra de Hart (Spain) [es]
Le combat du lieutenant Hart (Canada: French title) [fr]
Mission évasion (France) [fr]
Razboiul lui Tom Hart (Romania) [ro]
Seref ve cesaret (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Sotto corte marziale (Italy) [it]

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong war violence and language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Brazil:14 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | USA:R (certificate #38093) | Canada:A (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:12 | Hungary:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Krizeneckeho namesti, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Cheyenne Enterprises

Trivia:

When Hart (Colin Farrell) sneaks out of the barracks near the end of the movie he hides from two passing guards. As the guards pass they are speaking German. What they are saying translates to: "My dog has no nose" "How does he smell?" "Terrible."

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the start of the movie the date is given as 16 December 1944, the day that the German Ardennes Counter-Offensive (aka The Battle of the Bulge) began. When Hart crashes his jeep as he speeds away from the MPs, he ends up in a gully with a large number of dead American soldiers. A road sign seen earlier in the scene indicates that this is supposed to be the men from the infamous Malmedy Massacre. Those murders of POW's didn't happen until 17 December 1944, the day after the battle began.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Billy Ray (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Marie

Prison camp flick Hollywoodized for your enjoyment

"Hart's War" is a stalag flick which tells of events among the American soldiers suffering hardship in a WWII prison camp. The film scores points for good art, technicals, and performances. However, it trades reality for drama and spins a somewhat convoluted story about racism, murder, and smoldering secrets inside the compound which it finds difficult to sort out and ultimately fizzles in the end. "HW" is solid Hollywood style entertainment which should be a pleasing watch for those into WWII POW dramas. B-