He’s talking from the perspective of historical accuracy, not dramatic quality. Two different things.
Love the movie personally.
The opinion of anybody who mentions The 317th Platoon as a great war movie should begiven a little bit more weight than you give him credit for.
Beevor’s an excellent historian, and he’s speaking from that perspective.
His book “Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege” is a great read, you truly get the feel for the conditions.
He also wrote about the only readable (comprehensible) account of the Spanish Civil War, which IMO is quite a feat.
I have the utmost respect for Antony Beevor. His books on Stalingrad and Berlin ‘45 are two of the most informative historical accounts I have ever read.
Hollywood is incapable of making an inspiring movie about war. They are either about the futility, brutality and tragedy of war or they are like “Ryan” and paint the soldiers as foul-mouthed twits.