Made in 1974, The Execution Of Private Slovik is, as the title suggests, about the execution of a soldier, in this case the only person put to death by the US military for desertion since the Civil War. Martin Sheen plays Eddie Slovik, who is initially ineligible for the draft due to his criminal past, but as the war drags on and the need for soldiers gets more desperate, gets called up.
While his wife tries to get him out of the army, he’s forced into a rifle unit, which may not be the best place for him as he doesn’t like gun. Once in Europe he quickly decides the front line isn’t the place for him, as he’s too terrified and becomes paralysed while under enemy fire. After a short time AWOL, which the army overlooks, he’s told he’ll be sent back to the frontline. Slovik refuses to go, saying he can only take an assignment back from the front line as he’s a bad frontline soldier and will just be a liability to his unit. His decision to make a stand leads to a court martial and the ultimate sentence.
It’s difficult to know how much you can trust The Execution Of Private Slovik. The book it’s based on took a broad view of the execution, using interviews with those who knew Slovik and who were involved in the execution to try and give an overall, balanced picture of how and why it happened. The film tries to mimic that with multiple voiceovers from all sorts of different people, but rather than making it seem like you’re getting a more objective look at what happened, it makes it more difficult to know if your being sold a line or not.
While the film largely seems to feel the execution was a tragic and unfair, it doesn’t do a great job of arguing that, largely because it ignores the ramification of quite a lot of the issues that it brings up, which suggest there was a lot more going on that the film wants to deal with. The movie certainly made me want to read the book it’s based on, partly because I felt I wasn’t getting the whole story from the film. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly no cheerleader for the death penalty, but Slovik’s case is a lot more complicated than it’s presented here.
However while it’s easy to argue over the film’s politics, for a TV movie it’s very effective and moving, with a great performance from Martin Sheen. The film undoubtedly make for an interesting couple of hours, even if you may come away feeling Slovik wasn’t quite as railroaded as the movie suggests.
Overall Verdict: Too simplistic politically, but it’s certainly an interesting subject made into a very watchable movie.
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Reviewer: Tim Isaac