FROM THE DIRECTOR

I grew up with a fascination for war movies. It was never the violence or action that did it for me, but the quieter moments when characters had to grapple with their predicament. In these combat situations – or how they’re depicted in film, rather – the veil is down, the truth closer to earth. Characters are fully present, and as the filmmaker you can cut right through to the big themes. In hindsight, being an only child, I think the brotherly camaraderie was a welcome fantasy for me. 

I find myself saying “In hindsight” a lot with regards to Foxhole. I conceived of the film when I was 15, just after wrapping production on my first feature, and I developed the story throughout high school. I’m 21 now, and I see the world a lot differently than I did then. Foxhole captures the aspirational naivete of a teenage boy grappling with the big themes that had just entered his orbit, that he craved to experience firsthand (little did he know he was experiencing them every day; the stakes were just lower). At my current age I don’t think I would be brave enough to make Foxhole. It reaches at a less literal, more allegorical form of storytelling that seems lost on today’s swaths of ‘content’. I firmly believe, however, that these kinds of stories are crucial to repairing our national identity because they appeal to our shared humanity.
     
FOXHOLE follows a group of five soldiers through three different time periods as they grapple with questions of morality and futility in and an increasingly volatile combat situation. As time shifts, the questions they face remain the same, but answers seem further from grasp. The film depicts classic caricatures – the sage, the warrior, the coward, the protector – and seeks to empathize with each perspective, while also viewing them through the critical lens of outsiders: an African American soldier who begins as a voiceless catalyst for the film’s conflict and over time emerges as the group’s leader, and a German soldier who faces execution. 

The only ‘enemy’ depicted in the film is the one that rears its ugly head in characters’ who give in to fear.
The film’s three-part structure explores how personality traits are externalized in different historical contexts. Bigotry is refuge for the coward in the old wars, a protective instinct when radicalized costs lives, and principles of honor and integrity are overtaken by the most human impulse of all: survival. Karma is at play: how one man acts in one war might affect his luck in the next. But fate and chance are even stronger forces, and they do not choose sides. Foxhole’s soldiers each try to do the right thing, yet fall short because of a confluence of their own shortcomings and forces out of their control. Unsatisfied with this this bleak reality, Foxhole seeks to uplift and memorialize their last moments through memories and visions that will resonate beyond their time and remind us that their efforts may not have been in vain. 

—Jack Fessenden, August 2021

FOXHOLE’s visual aesthetic evolves throughout the film to reflect the loss of purpose and increased volatility of the soldiers’ situation. The Civil War will have a rich, saturated look, and a camera that puts a degree of distance between the audience and the characters; World War I, shot in black & white, will be starker; Iraq will utilize wide lenses, zooms, and hand held camera to match the claustrophobia and dread of the doomed soldiers trapped in the HUMVEE. The first two segments – the Civil War and World War I – will be shot on anamorphic lenses, imbuing classic filmic beauty, while Iraq will be shot on standard cinema glass for an un-romanticized look. Camera style and color pallet will assert a distance between past and present, while the narrative puts that distance into question. 

FOXHOLE was inspired by a story my grandfather told me about his comrade’s experience at the Battle of the Bulge. My grandfather’s friend, Morton, was huddled alone in a foxhole at night, taking shelter from artillery fire, when a German soldier jumped in beside him. Instead of attacking each other, the two men spoke all night, formed a bond, and parted ways at dawn. After the war, in a grocery store back home, Morton noticed a man following him. He turned to confront him and recognized him instantly: it was the German. He had since moved to the U.S. to work as a teacher. He and Morton remained friends for life. As soon as I heard this story I knew I needed to find a way to tell it. That is how FOXHOLE began, and it has since become much more.” 

—Jack Fessenden, during pre-production  2.11.19