Thought to be lost for many years, “Fear And Desire” is the first film directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick (“2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Full Metal Jacket”). Kubrick was apparently very embarrassed about this early effort and sought to destroy every copy of it. The film is shocking because it is rather underwhelming and mundane from a man that you do not associate with anything but the best.

Set in a non-specific war, “Fear And Desire” follows a small group of soldiers that find themselves trapped behind enemy lines. They try to figure out the best way to get back but pressures of the war get to them in different ways.

The characters in this movie are rather bland. You can see there are moments that are trying to be deep and meaningful and even parts that are trying to be shocking but the writing makes it hard for one to care sufficiently. I also think the decision to not make clear when or where the conflict is a poor one because we are sat wondering who bad guys are and what country we are in. You can argue that the point is that this could happen anywhere, anytime and involving any nations but I would still prefer it if we knew the proper context.

“Fear And Desire” is a rather weak film and it is unsurprising that Kubrick wanted to bury it. His later work includes some of the greatest films I have ever seen. Fans of Kubrick’s more famous films might want to check this out just for curiosity’s sake but I doubt anybody else is going to want to see it. It is not a terrible film but it’s below average low-budget affair. If you have not seen any of Kubrick’s pictures then I strongly urge that you hunt down classics such as “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “A Clockwork Orange” and “Eyes Wide Shut”.