Romance Too Crappy for a War Epic

Preamble: Conflicts and wars are WAY bigger than films. The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Iran. Afghanistan. The ongoing crisis in Mexico. Each of these could be portrayed on film for hours without end from just ONE viewpoint. War isn't something we do….it's who we are, with a few exceptions. Think about it.
So, to me this film is really about the endlessness of war (esp. WWII) about how it scars or kills in so many ways…and love, pure or otherwise, is just another victim.

That said, I need help with the other stuff. There is A LOT going on in the screenplay, mostly side shows to the "main" plot:
1. The cave of swimmers: is that symbolic (it can't be a side show, right?)? And the elevated murals in the Italian church? Even the pines flashing against the sun in the closing scene. It appears that the film suggests that human art will always fascinate, no matter what happens. I hope so.
2. how could a sergeant authorize a NURSE with a "guilt trip" to stay alone with a terminal patient in a booby-trapped italian region? Yes, plot development required it, but did he want her to die?
3. What happened to Moose's girl? Did HE rat her out? Was she also tortured? Also, IDK how spies were trained back then, but I believe at such a time if the germans caught me for spying I would accept dismemberment defiantly: "ok, goodbye thumbs". Moose does the opposite.
4. Ok, Cupid 101 for GUYS: Lesson 1: if you just married the "P" and you got it THAT BAD for the p, YOU DON'T LEAVE THE P BEHIND in the middle of a desert with strange men for any length of time and EXPECT her to be faithful, and she would NOT volunteer to stay either. Lesson 2: If the p is surprisingly unfaithful, you don't devise some STUPID, CRAZY plan like flying the p in from far away and then bringing SUDDEN DEATH BY AIRPLANE to the both of them! Only on film would such an act result in a fate worse than death ONLY to both the lovers. Lesson 3: if you and your favorite p are stranded in the middle of a desert, and you got it that bad for the p, YOU DON'T LEAVE THE P BEHIND. A piece of airplane and a piece of rope and voila! - a sled! And she wouldn't exactly volunteer to stay either. Don't caves breed bats and rats? what if you don't make it back (he didn't)? You'd Carry the p if you had to…. Anyway, that p is your best defense against being mistaken for a spy. Ol' "K" was basically adored AND abandoned by 2 men in the same year. Lesson 4: WOMEN DO NOT FORGET THEIR FIRST ANNIVERSARY - ONLY MEN DO.
5. Which way are we supposed to feel about all the morphine use?
6. "K" bumps her head when she gets up from talking to Almasy behind a bleacher. I believe she also does it at the cave of swimmers. Almasy witnesses both of these bumps speechless. Disturbing to me.
7. This movie becomes more incredible by the minute: everything that Almasy does after leaving K behind makes as much sense as him abandoning her.
8. Fried, dying Almasy says he couldn't keep K because he "had the wrong last name"??
9. His tirade at the club dinner where he's obviously upset at losing K leaves me, and the others, totally lost. Mussolini? Fuhrer? Anyone?
10. Madox received little character development in the film for such a key figure.
11. For starters, Who is this incompetent mapmaker "Bell" that Madox talks to Almasy about, who suddenly became "brilliant"?
12. Madox said whoever owns the Sahara controls north africa - just because there are spears and arrowheads there. Aren't these elsewhere in Africa?
13. Why did Madox shoot himself because of Almasy's spying? What did he fear?
14. Can someone decipher the (assumed) hungarian writing K reads in Almasy's book?
15. The last conversation between Madox and Almasy was a truly pretentious goodbye: "I have to teach myself not to look too much into things…things (amount)to nothing at all" "There is no god, but I hope someone looks after you." You'll never go to Dorset." "that part just below a woman's neck is called whatchamacallit….". Ok, Almasy never goes to Dorset, but what is the rest? Symbolism? Blabber for fun?



It may be blasphemy, but this "romance" falls short.

"He's a soldier...trained to kill. You seem trained to drink..." (no comment)