Cinema: Ordeal in the Desert

The Hill. Under the merciless white sun, five soldiers bearing full packs stagger up the sandy slope of a man-made pyramid in North Africa. If they falter they face further punishment. If they fall, they are doused with water and forced to continue until they collapse from heat, hate and exhaustion. The five, led by an insubordinate British officer (Sean Connery) and a black West Indian sneak thief (Ossie Davis), are prisoners in a British army stockade during World War II. The architect of their torture on the hill is a brutal sergeant...

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