Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

rpmc-1 This is a rarity -- a genuine anti-war film that is also a genuine work of art. Gance's protagonist is the only member of his battalion to survive the trenches of WWI. The experience so horrifies him that he is driven to develop technology he hopes will prevent all future war. On learning, in 1938, that his native France is again preparing to send its young to the slaughter, he summons his outrage and grief for all his fallen comrades and calls on the war dead of 1914-1918-- from France, Italy, Britain and Germany -- to rise from their graves in rebellion against the horror. Sounds naff? Watch it, and think again. Any filmmaker or lover of cinematic art who reviles the current state of the world could learn from this film ... technically as well as thematically. Gance includes graphic and enlightening footage of the armies of France preparing for the second imperialist onslaught. That alone serves as a refreshing visual antidote to the decades of mind numbing propaganda that would have us believe there would never have been a WWII had Germany not existed.

alicecbr A plea from beyond the graves of 53,000.000 who died in WWI, this movie eloquently watches 12 men as they prepare for what they know will the last patrol of their life. 120 men have already gone to their deaths in their 3 years at Verdun, on the same patrol. As two men argue over their love for one's wife, the husband is suddenly bound to forgive the other and makes him pledge to mail letters to the other's wife should he die, at 2 week intervals to keep her thinking of him alive.A few subplots involving a chanteuse who has all the men singing while the bombs explode around them in a town that is wiped out by the barrage. The scene in which the dead answer the call of the scientist who has worked for 20 years to bring back his friends and others has been often copied in far lesser films since. The dialogue in this movie is of great impact, made more so by the fact that my son has just returned from the slaughter in Iraq. A eye for an eye makes everyone blind, and no movie makes the point as well as this one. The death scene may deliberately be set up to make you think of Jean D'Arc, but it just reminded me of how mindless the masses are, no matter of what nationality. The brainwashed American public is a case in point. Oh, for a decent educational system. Maybe we should give up and just show movies like this one, 'Paths of Glory', 'Attack' and 'Deerhunter' all day. Whoever puts up statues to military, writes military marches and glorifies marching off to war should have to tell all the widows their loved one has died for nothing, only repeats of death---be it through war or 9/11s.

mifunesamurai An important film for its time with a powerful message that only fell on deaf ears when World War II went ahead. Unfortunately, the film was technically flawed with some campy moments and a messy story structure. Still, the ending is a classic.

delbruk J' Accuse! is one of those imperfect films that have so many captivating and remarkable scenes as to burn them into memory forever. From the first 45 minutes concentrating on the battleground of the first World War that rivals All Quiet On The Western Front to the final half hour of surrealist horror/fantasy that evokes the groundwork for such films as Night of the Living Dead there is much to love about this work.The editing and use of actual stock war footage actually brings the viewer a historical grounding for the social and moral stance the film takes. The special effects are in grand display for a film of the 1930s and eerily successful during the climax which is one of the truly great accomplishments in cinematic history.The only drawbacks for the film is depending on your version/copy you may have re-edited scenes which create an odd linear flow to the film and which are also quite obviously placed. Also, the middle of the film does get bogged down in a romantic sub plot that does not seriously work and all too often finds the actors suffering from melodrama.However, the historical significance of this film's anti-war message should not be detracted from the horrific circumstances surrounding WW II. The film's message actually centers on the scientific advances of the well played lead, Victor Francen, who allows his country (in this case France) the perception of a military advantage to consider war as beneficial. You can easily see this film speaking to the scientific community in any country of the time - especially Germany. Politics aside, the message is clear and as haunting as any you may find in the annals of cinema.