Saints and Soldiers - Historical Premise - Malmedy Massacre

Malmedy Massacre

Ryan Little (director), Adam Abel (Producer) and Matt Whitaker (writer) give background and insight in to the film and its historicity on the commentary track of the DVD. In this commentary, before the massacre, after a shot of a German soldier lighting a cigarette for one of their prisoners, Whitaker and Little discussed the scene:

Whitaker: "That shot right there, I just thought was so well .... I remember when you and I talked, Ryan, we talked about putting things in there showing a German lighting a cigarette for an American prisoner of war. And with that shot you kind of establish right off that this is not your typical war movie. This is not the bad guys/good guys. We're showing that there were levels and elements of good and bad, you know, in everybody there."

Little: "Yeah, I think you're right. I think, you know .... When Geoffrey had done so much research on the Malmedy massacre, and presented it as the idea .... There are so many accounts about what happened. And, you know, it's interesting. We didn't know exactly where to kinda, you know, what point of view to take and so I guess we all, as we discussed it, we kinda decided that maybe more of a kinda neutral approach."