Wooden Crosses

Year: 1932

Runtime: 110 mins

Language: French

Director: Raymond Bernard

WarDrama

Patriotic student Demachy enlists in the French army in 1914, eager to defend his nation. Soon, he and his fellow soldiers endure the brutal, unending trench warfare of Champagne, where relentless artillery rains down and countless wooden crosses must be raised to mark the fallen, turning them into cannon fodder.

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Wooden Crosses (1932) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Read the complete plot breakdown of Wooden Crosses (1932), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:52

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Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Trench warfare movies like Wooden Crosses

A relentless and brutal depiction of the soldier's life in the trenches.For viewers seeking more films like Wooden Crosses, this list features movies that capture the brutal, unrelenting experience of trench warfare. These stories focus on survival, camaraderie, and the sheer horror of life on the front lines, offering similar grim and immersive war experiences.

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Narrative Summary

Films in this thread typically follow soldiers from their initial enlistment through a harrowing journey into the meat grinder of trench combat. The narrative is often linear and focused on the daily struggle for survival, emphasizing the dehumanizing conditions and the loss of individual identity amidst mass conflict.

Why These Movies?

These movies are grouped together by their shared, highly specific setting and the intense, visceral experience it creates. They are united by a commitment to historical realism in depicting the dirt, mud, fear, and futility that defined this particular form of industrialized warfare.

Movies about war disillusionment like Wooden Crosses

From patriotic fervor to the bitter ashes of shattered ideals.If you liked Wooden Crosses for its powerful story of shattered patriotism, this list showcases similar films about the loss of innocence and idealism in war. These movies explore the emotional journey from eager enlistment to grim reality, perfect for fans of heavy, character-driven war dramas.

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Narrative Summary

The core narrative pattern is a character arc that begins with idealism, propaganda-fueled patriotism, or a sense of glory. Through direct exposure to the horrors of combat—death, trauma, and institutional indifference—this idealism is systematically dismantled, leading to a bleak, cynical, or traumatized perspective.

Why These Movies?

These films are connected by their central thematic focus on the psychological destruction of wartime ideals. They share a heavy emotional weight and a consistently bleak tone, using the protagonist's internal journey as the primary vehicle to critique the nature of war itself.

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Wooden Crosses Timeline

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Wooden Crosses

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More About Wooden Crosses

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Similar Movies to Wooden Crosses

Discover movies like Wooden Crosses that share similar genres, themes, and storytelling elements. Whether you’re drawn to the atmosphere, character arcs, or plot structure, these curated recommendations will help you explore more films you’ll love.