A Kratovice castle serves as a recluse stronghold for varying factions of the ongoing cilvil war in the Baltic regions of 1919 Latvia. Screenwriter and spouse of director, Margarethe von Trotta plays the matriarch homebody, extending compassion and love to all while being singularly rebuked. Under constant strain and barrage, our soldiers mettle is tested daily. Lines of demarcation move forward, back, disappear, and reassert as convenience and situation serve. It’s all risky business on the individual war fronts, never ending. Shot in pristine black and white, using historical backdrop sets of old Europe serve solid performances and reveal the confusion, disarray of political alliances never made clear, directives, orders continually failing from lack of central command. Coup de Grace nestles comfortably in with all the Russian “thaw era” films from late 1950’s to early 1960’s on the continuing war of the human condition. Credit Criterion with resurrecting another under-the-radar essential from the Schlondorff canon and new wave German cinema.