Father & Soldier: Mathieu Vadepied’s war film tells the story of a father who follows his son after he is “forcibly enlisted” from his village in Senegal to the meat grinder that was trench warfare in World War I. There is nothing new with the notion that war is hell, and this film does little to bring much new to the table on that front. It does, however, show a side of the war often ignored and, more relevantly, pits father against son in unexpected and engaging ways. The pair is engagingly played by Omar Sy, who plays the father who wants nothing more than take his son back home safely, and Alassane Diong, as the son who eventually develops a new view on the matter. The film is capably done: composer Alexandre Desplat’s musical score is very beautiful; the film is well shot and edited by, respectively, director of photography Luis Armando Arteaga and editor Xavier Sirven; and costume designer Pierre-Jean Larroque’s recreation of the uniforms, spot-on.