3 Short Paragraphs: Greyhound

 2020, Aaron Schneider (Get Low) -- download

CS Forester was a novelist known for his Horatio Hornblower Napoleonic era nautical novels. He also did a number of novels set during WW II, including one that was made into Sink the Bismark! where the British navy strives to sink the most powerful German battleship to date. Greyhound is based on The Good Shepherd, about a US Navy commander tasked with escorting a large multi-national convoy across the Atlantic, and the long long few days it takes to cross, while being dogged by numerous U-boats.

Tom Hanks plays Commander Krause, an aging Navy Commander provided his first real wartime command. He's a devout man, stoic and reserved, and determined to prove himself worthy of all the souls under his protection. Soon after the convoy enters the "Black Pit", an area where aerial reconnaissance is not available, they are attacked by a wolf pack. Krause stays awake, never having any opportunity to sleep nor even eat, as he goes from watch to watch, the Germans not relenting. He ignores exhaustion and the doubts of the men under his command, even his own personal doubts, and just soldiers on. 

The movie moves methodically through each watch, letting the actions speak for themselves, rarely playing into melodrama or clichés of war movies. I felt the strain along with Krause, as he watches ships sink, as he issues commands that send crewmen to their deaths, as fate often overtakes all. The movie is grim, caught in the cold mid-Atlantic, and Hanks plays it well, as I knew he would. He surprised us all when he took on the role in Saving Private Ryan and while there is little comparison between these two men, I knew he could handle this small, focused role. The movie not grand, nor does it strive to be, but it is taught story telling.