In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss Windtalkers (2002), a World War II film inspired by the real Navajo Code Talkers who served in the Pacific theatre. Set primarily during the Battle of Saipan, the film follows Navajo Marines using their language as an unbreakable military code. Unfortunately, the main character is white. Why?

Still, we're happy to talk about Code Talkers

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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss Taking Sides (2001), a postwar drama built around a single, unresolved question: can you separate the art from the artist?

Set during the Allied denazification of Germany, the film centres on the interrogation of celebrated conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who insists that his art existed above politics. His American interrogator argues the opposite: that cultural figures who remained visible under the Nazi regime cannot claim neutrality.

Our conversation focuses on complicity and whether art can be “apolitical” under fascism, as we try to determine whether the film truly challenges its subject.

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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss Hart’s War (2002), directed by Gregory Hoblit and based on the novel by John Katzenbach. Set inside a German POW camp during the final months of World War II, the film is about a racially charged court martial involving a Tuskegee Airman, with a young American officer forced into the role of defence lawyer.
War movie or courtroom drama? This one is a bit of both. The film attempts to address questions of racism within the US military, but we're not sure it tries hard enough. Based on a book, it diverges sharply from its source material. As usual, Sam gives you the best bits from the book.
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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss Ice Cold in Alex (1958), directed by J. Lee Thompson and based on the 1957 novel by Christopher Landon. Set during the North African campaign of World War II, the film follows a British officer, his NCO, two nurses, and a mysterious South African hitchhiker as they attempt to reach Alexandria in a battered ambulance.

It's a tense adventure film, with the desert as the main antagonist and an ambulance that feels like a character rather than a vehicle. And of course, the film has a famous promise: an ice‑cold beer waiting at the end of the road.

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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss For the Moment (1993), written and directed by Aaron Kim Johnston. Set in rural Manitoba in 1942, the film follows a group of Canadian women and young Commonwealth airmen brought together by the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Though fictional, the story draws heavily on the real experiences of Johnston’s parents and captures the temporary, emotionally charged connections formed far from the war's front lines.

We talk about early-career Russell Crowe, understated performances, and why this quiet, character-driven film feels refreshingly honest about wartime romance, loss, and choices that do not come with neat endings.

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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we continue our accidental monster-movie streak with Beast of War (2025), written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner. Loosely inspired by the real sinking of the Australian ship HMAS Armidale in the Timor Sea on 1 December 1942, the film follows a group of soldiers stranded on a rapidly failing raft, hunted by a great white shark.

Joined by our favourite returning, usually SAS Rogue Heroes, but now creature-feature correspondent George, we talk about why this is not just a horror movie, but a survival story with real themes: isolation, fear, trauma, and the brittle veneer of civilisation when the ocean is doing its absolute worst. Merry Christmas, see you in 2026.

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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we talk about Godzilla Minus One (2023), written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki. We can hear you thinking... What? Set in the immediate aftermath of WWII, the film follows a former kamikaze pilot grappling with survivor’s guilt, PTSD, and the struggle to rebuild a life in a shattered Japan - while Godzilla looms as both a literal threat and a powerful metaphor.

We discuss why this film works even if you think you don’t like monster movies (cough Maartje cough), how it uses Godzilla to explore nuclear trauma and post-war grief, and why the human story at its centre is surprisingly moving. We're joined by our friend Julie, resident Godzilla enthusiast, because this movie deserves her commentary.

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In this episode of Rosie the Reviewer, we discuss Son of Saul (2015), László Nemes’ profoundly human film set inside Auschwitz. Told entirely through the tight perspective of a Jewish Sonderkommando prisoner named Saul, the film is entirely glamourless. We talk about how the narrow framing, blurred periphery, and overwhelming soundscape place you in a world where there's no yesterday and no tomorrow, only the present.

Learn more about the Sonderkommando, the 1944 uprising and tell us what you think about this movie.

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