This film is one of the best true-life adaptations of an historical event - The Berlin Airlift. It was made on location in Berlin with the full cooperation of the US Military who actually played the minor acting roles.

The movie does an excellent job in portraying the bleak situation that the Berliners had to endure as a result of the Soviet blockade along with all the wrecked infrastructure of the city and black market trading, and Paul Douglas's character, an American sergeant who has no love for the Germans and goes out of his way to be rude and act like a true "occupation" taking revenge out on a former Nazi prison guard that tormented him while he was a prisoner.

The film is probably the most realistic portrayal of the American soldier after the war when technically the US Army was an occupation force along with the British and French, whilst the portrayal of the German widow who really hated the Americans is equally realistic.

The Big Lift does a good job in showing how ordinary soldiers and people can have divided loyalties and wrestle with the adverse situation that befell them in Berlin at the time. Truly a time capsule of Post-war Berlin