Corrected entry: In the scene at the end of the movie, when the Rangers have stormed the bunkers at Omaha beach, a medic is attending to someone's wound. Suddenly, some Germans appear, with their hands up, shouting "bitte, bitte" (please, please) in German, which for an English speaking person sounds like "beatte, beatte". The medic shoots them, and says,"I wonder what 'bitte, bitte' means", PRONOUNCED in English. He should have said, "I wonder what 'beatte, beatte' means". The actor apparently just read the line from the script and spoke what he read, not what he heard.
Correction: The two "German" soldiers were in reality Czech soldiers used to support the German war effort. So the "bitte bitte" speech would have had a different accent.
Correction: Actually as I'm watching the film as we speak the subtitles say, "I wonder what "bitter, bitter" means..." Bitte is German for 'please'. I always assumed the German was saying something to the affect of "I'm a medic" or "I can help." Which to me would make the kill all the more ironic / tragic.
The Germans were definitely not medics.
Correction: You've missed the subtle brutality of the scene. The medic speaks German and understands the men are trying to surrender but kills them anyway - he is taking no prisoners. His accented pronunciation of 'bitte' shows that.
Why would he ask what bitte means then? I don't think he was being ironic.
Yeah he just ignored their plea and killed them. Not waiting to find out what they were saying. Shoot first ask questions later kind of mentality.
lionhead