Surprisingly, the Hart in “Hart’s War” is played not by Bruce Willis but by Irish actor Colin Farrell, who shows no traces of a brogue. Lt. Thomas Hart is the son of a U.S. senator who enlisted in the army while in his second year at Yale Law School. He has a rather cushy military desk job far from the battlefront, but when German troops capture him while he is driving another officer back to his post, his life ceases to be so comfortable.

After a brutal interrogation by his captors, Hart is sent to a POW camp in Germany where the ranking American officer is Col. William McNamara (Bruce Willis), a man who commands the respect of all of the imprisoned American troops. McNamara matches wits with the commandant of the stalag, Col. Werner Visser (Marcel Iures), and is consumed by the idea of pulling off one last mission -- namely, the destruction of a munitions factory outside the P.O.W. camp.

Frankly, I wouldn’t have minded a 21st century version of “The Dirty Dozen,” but we do not get anything so lighthearted in “Hart’s War.” After Hart’s imprisonment, two African-American pilots are shot down during a mission and quickly follow him into the stalag. The reaction of their fellow American servicemen is less than welcoming; after all, it was 1944, with integration of housing still a generation away.

The situation quickly worsens when the raging bigot in the P.O.W. camp, Sgt. Vic Bedford (Cole Hauser) falsely makes it appear as though one of the pilots, Lt. Archer (Vicellous Shannon), were attempting an escape from the camp. The Germans summarily execute Archer as a result. A short while later, Bedford turns up strangled and all fingers point obviously to Archer’s colleague from Tuskegee, Lt. Scott (Terrence Howard). The Germans are ready to apply the death penalty, but Col. McNamara intervenes and suggests a trial be held first. Col. Visser is amused by this American notion of justice and agrees, declaring “A trial? Yes, I do believe that will be fun!” McNamara, however, is hoping to use the proceedings as a diversion for the Germans so he can execute his plan. Lt. Hart is assigned the task of defending Scott.

Despite its good intentions, “Hart’s War” is the wrong forum in which to address the racism that existed for too long in our armed forces. Sure, America has always had bigotry, but it was incomparable to the merciless barbarism of the Third Reich.

“Hart’s War” has other problems as well. Colin Farrell is a virtual blank as the title character. Willis, in his first truly serious role, correspondingly looks as though he hasn’t had a shave or a cup of coffee in eons. It’s likely that Willis watched a lot of Lee Marvin movies when researching this role.

The only memorable performance is turned in by one of Romania’s best-loved actors, Marcel Iures, whose portrayal of Col. Visser, a German leader, is far more three-dimensional than those of others. Visser graduated from Yale and has a love for things American, including a particular fondness for jazz that was verboten under the Third Reich. He even plays a version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” during the film, endangering himself since Gershwin was Jewish. Sadly it is never made clear why an educated soldier like Visser chose to serve the Fuhrer, particularly when it is clear that the Third Reich is on its last legs.

For all of these reasons, “Hart’s War” is a disappointment.