Some Reflections on Nigerian History and Why I think Tears of the Sun (2003) is Problematic
Tears of the Sun shows a Navy Seal Commander Lieutenant Waters (Bruce Willis) struggle with his conscience. During the outbreak of a war in Nigeria he is sent to rescue an American doctor (Monica Belucci). However the doctor refuses to leave without the villagers who are surely killed if no one cares to bring them to a refugee camp. The question is now, will the callous, hardened Lt help those civilians or will he merely follow orders? His conversion towards an emphatic being is not completely convincing but that is not the main problem.
The action, fighting, emotions are very intense and in so far it is good entertainment for action buffs. My problem starts when this is called a war movie. We should only call a movie a war movie when the action is based on a known conflict. The war that we are shown in Tears of the Sun did not take place, it is purely fictitious. Furthermore why invent a war? I think this is highly questionable. And why invent a Nigerian war? One film critic, A.O. Scott, even stated that Nigeria was a bad choice since it had been spared such a civil war unlike other surrounding countries. Don´t get me wrong, Scott does not defend this movie, but he only criticised the choice of inventing a war while his misconception of the existence of a Nigerian Civil War shows the core problem. The whole story reveals how very problematic it is to invent wars when even people as well-informed as A.O Scott haven totally forgotten that Nigeria was once the place of one of the most cruel and horrible civil wars, namely the Nigerian-Biafran War. To me it seems as if in inventing such a war we erase the memory of the actual war.
But even if we have forgotten this war, we have not forgotten the pictures of the starving Biafran children.
I just would like to take the opportunity to show some respect for the people who suffered in those wars we may have forgotten.
Should you be interested in reading a novel about the war in Biafra I would recommend Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie´s novel Half of a Yellow Sun or her shorty story with the same name that you can read here Half of a Yellow Sun Short Story.
What are your thoughts? Do you think it is not problematic to invent a war?
A Bridge Too Far (1977) or A Movie Too Long?
Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far has, with some reason, been called a movie too long. Yes, I must admit I was tempted not to pause it when I needed to go to the bathroom. But then again… This is not doing it any justice because it has a lot of fine elements. For a start, what I am really enthusiastic about is the re-enacting. Nowadays it is all CGI but when they did A Bridge Too Far they had no choice but have people jump out of planes with their parachutes. And this is so beautiful. The scene where they jump is almost ethereal and all those hundreds of parachutes look like ever so many jellyfish. But there the dwelling on beauty ends, too horrible is the end of those frail looking creatures. Is there anything more helpless than a man hanging from a few ropes being shot at?
Operation Market Garden has been one of the biggest planning mistakes of WWII. What could have been a successful multinational cooperation turned into a farcical disaster. Two generals, one British (Montgomery), the other American (Patton), were so full of themselves that their egos put aside any consideration of a possible failure. Moreover Montgomery totally underestimated the German’s strength. 35000 paratroopers were to land in Holland behind enemy lines. The idea was to secure three bridges, push back the German troops, invade Germany and end the war. While holding the bridges, the troops should have been reinforced by tanks. Unfortunately they forgot to provide supply lines for the paratroopers, the armored troops were held back and died on what was called “Hell’s Highway” and civilians got in between as the operation collapsed.
This movie is probably one of the most famous war movies of all times. It is an all-star cast, like The Longest Day, starring Robert Redford, Ryan O’Neil, Gene Hackman, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Maximilian Schell, Hardy Krüger and many more. A Bridge Too Far shows, like The Longest Day, a big operation from different points of view. I was not equally keen on all the actors but was impressed by Anthony Hopkins whose despair at the end is painfully obvious. He plays the role of Lt. Col. Frost whose troops had to defend Arnhem Bridge. The end of the movie is one of the saddest in war movie history. The troops are either defeated, taken prisoners or killed.
A Bridge Too Far is a tragic illustration of what can go wrong when egotism meets bad planning and how the price is ultimately only paid by those who must follow orders.
As I stated before it is a tad long but it will always remain one of the most important epic war movies and you should watch it if you haven’t done so already.
Children in War Movies: A List
In this post I would like to focus on war movies in which children have leading roles and are not just supporting actors like in The Hurt Locker to name but one example.
There are many movies whose sole focus are children. They come from different countries, show different conflicts and times but they have one thing in common: they are all good, very good or outstanding. This is quite remarkable. It is as if those film directors who aim for entertainment only would shy away from showing children in war movies. All the movies listed below are very different in tone. Some are light and almost playful, like Hope and Glory, some are depressing and raw like Come and See, others have the quality of a fairytale like Pan´s Labyrinth.
I am sure my list is not exhaustive. If you know of any others, let me know. I will try and review most of them in later posts, like I already did with Hope and Glory (see post), Welcome to Sarajevo (link to post), The Children of Huang Shi (see post) and Savior (see post). I am stating the name and the year and country in brackets. The conflict and where the war takes place follow behind. I did include a few movies with teenagers in it like The Bridge or Napola, but most of the others focus on much smaller children. I did also include Savior as the newborn is central to the story.
I am sure you will discover many you did not know yet as I did.
The Drum (GB, 1938): India
Mrs Miniver (US 1942): WWII, British Homefront
Since You Went Away (US, 1944): WWII, American Homefront (here is my review)
Roma, Città Aperta aka Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945): WWII, Italy
Kim (US, 1950): India
Forbidden Games aka Jeux interdits (1952, France): WWII, France
The Bridge aka Die Brücke (1959, Germany): WWII, Germany
Two Women aka La ciociara (1960, Italy/France): WWII, Italy
Ivan’s Childhood aka Ivanovo detstvo (1962, Soviet Union): WWII, Russia
Hornet´s Nest (1970, USA): WWII, Italy
Lacombe Lucien (1974, France): WWII, France
The Tin Drum aka Die Blechtrommel (Germany, 1979): WWII, Germany
Hope and Glory (1987, UK): WWII, Blitz (Here is my review)
Empire of the Sun (1987, USA) : Chinese-Japanese War WWII
Au-revoir les enfants aka Goodbye, Children (1987, France/Germany): WWII, Holocaust,France
Grave of the Fireflies aka Hotaru no haka (1988, Japan): WWII, Japan. Anime. (See my post)
Europa, Europa aka Hitlerjunge Salomon (1990 Germany/France/Poland): WWII, Germany (See my review)
Come and See aka Idi i smotri(1985, Soviet Union): WWII, Byelorussia
The Ogre aka Der Unhold (1996, France/Germany/UK): WWII, Nazi Germany
Welcome to Sarajevo (1997, USA) : Bosnia
Life is beautiful aka La vita è bella (1997, Italy): WWII, Holocaust (see post on La vita è bella)
Savior (1998, USA ): Bosnia
Silent Night (2002, USA): WWII, Germany (see my post on Silent Night)
Innocent Voices aka Voces inocentes (2004, Mexico/USA/Puerto Rico): El Salvador (see my post on Innocent Voices)
Turtles can fly aka Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand (2004, Iran/France/Iraq): Iraq
Before the Fall aka Napola (2004, Germany): WWII, Germany (see my review of NaPola)
Pan´s Labyrinth aka El laberinto del fauno (2006, Spain): WWII Franco´s Spain
Under the Bombs aka Sous les Bombes (2007, France/Lebanon): 2006, Lebanon (see my review of Under the Bombs)
Miracle at St. Anna (2008, US): WWII, Italy (here is my review)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008, UK/USA): WWII, Holocaust (see my review)
Escape from Huang Shi aka The Children of Huang Shi (2008, Australia, China, Germany, USA): Japanese occupation of China
Winter in Wartime aka Oorlogswinter (2008, Netherlans, Belgium): WWII, occupied Hollad in Winter, 1945 (here is the link to my post)
The Fortress of War aka Brestskaya krepost (2010, Russia): WWII, Russia 1941. Germans attack the Brest Fortress (here is the link to my post).
This list is being updated regularly.
The Truce aka La tregua (1997) or Primo Levi´s Odyssey from Auschwitz back home
The late Italian writer Primo Levi was one of 650 Italian Jews who were deported to Auschwitz. He was one of only five to survive.
All of his life he suffered of survivor´s guilt and feelings of shame remembering how much they were degraded. In 1987 he very probably committed suicide. I say probably since it was not 100% established but everything points to it.
He wrote two famous books about the Holocaust. If this is a man aka Se questo è un uomo about his time in Auschwitz and The Truce aka La tregua about his odyssey back home from Auschwitz to Italy.
Francesco Rosi’s movie The truce aka La tregua is based on the second of those books.
Did you ever wonder what happened to the prisoners of Auschwitz after they had been freed by the Red Army? Being free was one thing but getting back home another one altogether.
Levi´s odyssey brought him first farther away from his home country Italy, to Minsk. You could not just board a train at leisure. The railway lines had mostly been destroyd. And what about food without money in countries whose populations were starving? It takes Primo months until he gets back. He finally arrives after stressful moments of a long and complicated journey, mishaps, dangers but also of joy and rediscovering the beauty of life.
I knew John Turturro from his movies with the Coen brothers where he plays mostly a comical character. This is a very different role but it felt as if it had been created for him. He plays this sad, pensive and gentle intellectual in a very endearing manner.
The last scene shows Primo writing. That’s what he will do from now on, that and working as a chemist. And he will leave two of the most accurate and painful accounts of Auschwitz and the journey home that we have.
People who read the book La tregua criticize the movie relentlessly but I think we should also see it as a homage to a man who had the courage to testify but never really got over the fact to have been one of a very few to survive.
I liked this movie, I really did, probably thanks to Turturro´s soulful acting.
During the last scene of the movie, when we see Primo Levi writing, we hear a voice in the off reading his poem If This is a Man aka Se questo è un uomo.
Please, take a few minutes and read it.
| Voi che vivete sicuri | You who live safe |
| Nelle vostre tiepide case | In your warm houses, |
| voi che trovate tornando a sera | You who find warm food |
| Il cibo caldo e visi amici | And friendly faces when you return home. |
| Considerate se questo è un uomo | Consider if this is a man |
| Che lavora nel fango | Who works in mud, |
| Che non conosce pace | Who knows no peace, |
| Che lotta per mezzo pane | Who fights for a crust of bread, |
| Che muore per un sì o per un no. | Who dies by a yes or a no. |
| Considerate se questa è una donna | Consider if this is a woman |
| Senza capelli e senza nome | Without hair, without name, |
| Senza più forza di ricordare | Without the strength to remember, |
| Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo | Empty are her eyes, cold her womb, |
| Come una rana d’inverno. | Like a frog in winter. |
| Meditate che questo è stato | Never forget that this has happened. |
| Vi comando queste parole. | Remember these words. |
| Scolpitele nel vostro cuore | Engrave them in your hearts, |
| Stando in casa andando per via | When at home or in the street, |
| Coricandovi alzandovi | When lying down, when getting up. |
| Ripetetele ai vostri figli. | Repeat them to your children. |
| O vi si sfaccia la casa | Or may your houses be destroyed, |
| La malattia vi impedisca | May illness strike you down, |
| I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi | May your offspring turn their faces from you. |
Breaker Morant (1980) or An Australian Look at the Second Boer War
The Australian movie Breaker Morant is one of those movies that leave you thoughtful and pensive for quite a long time. It leaves you feeling helpless and infuriated as well by unmasking the hypocrisy of those in charge. It brilliantly illustrates the absurdity of war and deserves to be named together with the most important anti-war films ever done.
The movie is based on the true story of the court-martial of three Australian officers Lt Harry “Breaker” Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton by a British court. They were accused of having shot first one, then six POWs and subsequently a German missionary. Their defense attorney Jack Thompson who was inexperienced and soon tried to accuse those in charge of the trial as well.
The movie tells the storiy alternating court-room scenes with flashbacks.
The second Boer war (1899-1902) was by far worse than the first. The Dutch started to fight a guerilla war against the British who then fought back and organized a special troop, The Bushveldt Carabineers, for wich they appointed Australian soldiers. The idea was to fight the Boer with their own means.
Harry Morant volunteered to go to South Africa because he believed in the British Empire. How utterly tragic. In Australia he was famous as a breaker of horses and poet. Edward Woodward plays this proud, upright and poised character with an excellence I have rarely seen. This is such a brilliant actor I wonder why he never made it to more fame.
The longer we watch the trial the more we realise that it is a sham. The British need scape goats to save their reputation. What those officers are ultimately accused of is what they were told to do. Only now no one wants to take responsibility for it. Of course this is also a meditation on what is good or bad during war.
Breaker Morant is interesting for cinema historic reasons as well since it is part of the so-called Australian New Wave, of which Gallipoli and The Lighthorsemen are other great examples.
This is without any doubt a 5 star movie.
Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan (2007)
What is the best word to describe this movie? I would say it is enthralling. The cinematography is stunning. The vastness of the Mongolian steppe would leave no one indifferent but captured in such wonderful pictures there is no escaping the enchantment. These amazing views are underlined by one of the most convincing scores I have heard in any movie recently. Chanting monks, female singers, musical parts. Picture wise it did remind me of Urga aka Close to Eden, a gorgeous Mongolian movie I haven seen a few years back. We can easily deduce that material life in the Mongolina steppe has not changed much. People still live in yurts, even the clothes bear a certain resemblance.
The Russian movie Mongol is the first installment of a trilogy on the live of Genghis Khan. It shows his childhood, how he chose his wife Borte (Khulan Chuluun), the great love of his life, how his father is killed and how he later has to fight for his survival until he becomes the unifier of the Mongolian tribes and their leader. He is not yet called Genghis Khan, he is still Temudjin (Tadanobu Asano) a boy from a modest background whose father was one of many Khans.
Life at those times seemed to have been incredibly hard. The tribes were stealing from each other (horses and women), assaulted each other, killed each other. It is hard to imagine a life of greater insecurity than this. Whenever the future Genghis Khan triumphed over someone he was shown as very just and generous. As a consequence of this behaviour people wanted to follow him, they chose him as their leader.
The Genghis Khan we see is someone who inspires pity because of the hardships he has to endure and admiration for the way he treats people, especially his wife to whom he is very attached.
I cannot say much about the historical accuracy. Usually Genghis Khan, who was once the leader of the greatest empire that ever existed, is shown as a merciless cruel despot. There is not much room for beauty in those tales of his life. I tried to find out more and apparently it depends on the sources that are being used whether his portrait is more negative or more positive.
I was fascinated by the spiritual aspects in the movie, the deity that appeared in the form of a wolf. The wolf is very meaningful to the people of the Mongolian steppe. Certainly the depiction of the Mongolian religion is not accurate but I liked this dimension.
I thought the acting was excellent but have read that it has been criticized that a Japanese actor stars as Temudjin. The accents of the actors seem to be painful to Mongolian ears as well. I even read that some actors spoke Mandarin Chinese which was not yet spoken at the time… I don´t speak any of those languages therefore I was not bothered.
I think this is a very special, aesthetic, riveting movie and I am not surprised it was nominated for an Oscar and won many prizes.
Centurion (2010): A little bit of Gladiator, King Arthur and 300
When I started this blog I wanted to stick to war movies in the strict sense of the term only but now I feel I am in the mood for more liberties. A few months back I would not have included Centurion but now I do. I would not have mentioned Gladiator, King Arthur or 300 either. (If I did, King Arthur would be high up in my Top 10, probaly even making Black Hawk Down step down.)
Be it as it may, to compare Centurion (a British movie by the way) to those above mentioned movies is very unfortunate for it because it is not up to the comparison, I’m afraid. Nevertheless it is entertaining. However, compared to the three others, Centurion is super gory. And there are a lot of very combative warrior women in it. By the way, Dominic West, from The Wire, is in this one too but he is not the main character. He stars as General Vilnius. Michael Fassbender has the leading role as the Centurion Quintus Dias. The German actor Fassbender could already be seen in 300, Inglourious Basterds and The Devil’s Whore, to name but a few of his movies.
The year is 117 AD. The Roman Empire stretches from Spain to Egypt and as far as the Black Sea in the East. Only Britain is fighting off its invaders. The Empire is stopped by the savagely fierce Picts. Centurion Quintus Dias is the only survivor of a Pictish raid. He joins the legendary Ninth Legion of General Vilnius who is on a mission to erase the Picts and their leader Gorlacon from the face of the earth. When they are ambushed and the general is captured Quintus Dias is left alone with a small platoon far behind enemy lines. They first attempt to free their general and after this the real hunt begins. Led by a female warrior tracker (Olga Kurylenko), surnamed she-wolf, who has been mutilated by Romans in her youth and sworn to destroy each and every one of them, the Picts hunt them relentlessly. Without the help of a Pictish outcast, said to be a witch, they would not stand a chance but even so, they are soon highly decimated and in great trouble.
As said before, Centurion is really gory. It reminded me of Gladiator because of the battles in the woods. Of King Arthur because of the way they flee and are hunted, because of the scenerey, mountains and snow and also because of the female warriors. Same for 300. A little group outnumbered by a fierce enemy. The end however is quite different from the other three.
As I already said, it is not as good as the other three mentioned movies, since it is not heavy on psychology and the Picts are shown as savages whereas we are led to believe the Romans were faultless, but it is an entertaining watch with loads of battle and fighting scenes.
For a change the trailer is quite true to the movie.
Sometimes in April (2005) Part I
This is Part I of the HBO production Sometimes in April on the war in Rwanda (see Friday’s post) starring Idris Elba and Debra Winger. As I said, I haven’t seen it yet but it looks as if the whole movie has been posted in bits on YouTube. It seems well worth watching.
Some Actors of The Wire and their Roles in Recent War Movies
I am not the most avid viewer of series but there are some I did or do enjoy a lot. Six Feet Under was just excellent and so is True Blood. I also quite like Dexter. One of the best series however is The Wire, pretty awesome. Maybe you liked The Wire too and were wondering what some of the excellent actors did after the The Wire has ended.
Set during the British Civil War, The Devil´s Whore is a very convincing historical drama. Dominic West, Detective Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, stars as Oliver Cromwell. This mini series is a must-see for everybody interested in British history. It does take some liberties with some facts but still it is more than just good.
Idris Elba who played the unlikable baddie Russell “Stringer” Bell in The Wire can be seen in the leading role in Sometimes in April. I have not seen this yet but I read that it is the best movie that has been done on the war in Rwanda. Far better than Hotel Rwanda. It is a TV production, maybe that is the reason why it is not widely known. Unlike Hotel Rwanda it really looks into the history of Rwanda and the reasons for the conflict.
Last but not least, James Ransone, who played the annoying character Ziggy Sobotka, stars as Cpl. Josh Ray Person at the side of Alexander Skarsgard in Generation Kill. A very good performance.
Ok, it is slightly off topic, but what series do you think are outstanding? Any preferences? Suggestions?
Holocaust Movie Quotes Film Quiz 6
Today´s quiz is an addition to the post of yesterday about Triumph of the Spirit. The quotes below are all taken from Holocaust movies.
The following movies are hidden behind the quotes: La vita è bella aka Life is beautiful, Schindler´s List, Sophie´s Choice, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Pianist, Triumph of the Spirit, and Holocaust. Do you recognize the quotes? The solutions are just above the respective movie.
“I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don’t know. If I’d just… I could have got more.”
“Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.”
“If I’d made more money… I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I’d just… “
“There will be generations because of what you did.”
“I didn’t do enough!”
“You did so much.”
[... looks at his car]
“This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.”
[removing Nazi pin from lapel]
“This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.”
[sobbing]
“I could have gotten one more person… and I didn’t! And I… I didn’t!”
It’s an official decree, no Jews allowed in the parks.
“What, are you joking?”
“No, I’m not. I would suggest we sit down on a bench, but that’s also an official decree, no Jews allowed on benches.”
“This is absurd.”
“So, we should just stand here and talk, I don’t think we’re not allowed to do that.”
“Listen, I’m only going to say this once. For those who can hear me tell the rest. First come the SS, our lord and masters. Then comes our block health manager, Kyr. Then come the assistants, Otto and me. Then come the rats. Then come the lice… and then come you.”
“There is no hope! Karl is in prison and Rudi ran away! Never a word from him! And Papa, in Poland, where it’s like they came after him! Mama, you’re acting as if this is a play. Writing letters. Talking about Papa’s patients.”
“It does no harm.”
“You always had that notion that you were someone special, so fine, so educated! The Nazis would never hurt you or your children! And look! Look what’s happened to us!”
[sobs hysterically]
“Anna, your mother can’t be blamed.”
“New Year’s Eve! And who knows if any one of us will be alive for the next New Year!”
“No Jews or Dogs Allowed.” Why do all the shops say, “No Jews Allowed”?
“Oh, that. “Not Allowed” signs are the latest trend! The other day, I was in a shop with my friend the kangaroo, but their sign said, “No Kangaroos Allowed,” and I said to my friend, “Well, what can I do? They don’t allow kangaroos.”
“Why doesn’t our shop have a “Not Allowed” sign?”
“Well, tomorrow, we’ll put one up. We won’t let in anything we don’t like. What don’t you like?”
“Spiders.”
“Good. I don’t like Visigoths. Tomorrow, we’ll get sign: “No Spiders or Visigoths Allowed.”
“You’re so beautiful. I’d like to get you in bed. Are you a polack? You! Are you also one of those filthy communists?”
[walks away]
“I am a pole! I was born in Cracow! I am not a Jew. Neither are my children! They’re not Jews. They are racially pure. I am a Christian. I am a devout Christian.”
[the officer comes back]
“You are not a communist? You are a believer.”
“Yes sir, I believe in Christ.”
“You believe in Christ the redeemer?”
“Yes.”
[looks at the children] “Did He not say… “Suffer the children, come unto me?” “
[...remains silent]
“You may keep one of your children.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You may keep one of your children. The other must go away.”
“You mean, I have to choose?”
“You are a Polack, not a Yid. That gives you a privilidge, a choice.”
“I can’t choose. I can’t choose!”
“Be quiet.”
“I can’t choose!”
“Make a choice. Or I’ll send both of them over there. Make a choice.”
“Don’t make me choose! I can’t!”
“Shut up! Enough! I’ll send them both over there! I told you to shut up! Make a choice!”
“I can’t choose! Please! I can’t choose!”
[to an officer] “Take BOTH children away!”
“I know it’s terrible trying to have any faith when people are doing such horrible… But you know what I sometimes think? I think the world may be going through a phase, the way I was with mother. It’ll pass. Maybe not hundreds of years, but someday. – I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.”
If you liked this quiz, don´t miss some of the others:
Triumph of the Spirit (1989) or The Story of Salamo Arouch and how he survived Auschwitz
Salamo Arouch, a young Greek of Jewish descent became middle weight boxing champion of the Balkans in 1939. All his 24 fights ended with a KO. An absolute record. Surely he would have had a stunning career. Instead after Germany invaded Greece he and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau together with thousands of other Greek Jews in March 1943.
While the women of the family were gassed on the first day of their arrival, Salamo, his father and his brother were coerced into forced labour. Once the guards found out that he was a famous boxer they forced him to fight other prisoners for the entertainment of the Nazis. The loser would be gassed mercilessly. Somehow Arouch survived Auschwitz winning 208 fights by KO. After the liberation he emigrated to Palestine and witnessed the foundation of the state of Israel.
This incredible story, starring Willem Dafoe (at his absolute best) as Salamo Arouch is told in Triumph of the Spirit. Shot on location at Auschwitz this is one of the most impressive movies on the Holocaust I have ever seen. It feels spooky to know that we are actually seeing the very place where all this happened. Salamo Arouch came back to Auschwitz as an advisor during the shooting of this movie. He died in April 2009.
I had so many questions while watching this… So many thoughts… What was it like to go back there after having endured all this? What was it like for the actors to play in such a movie in such a place that was saturated in pain? Can you still feel this? And what was it like to play a prisoner of Auschwitz? I think this must be one of the hardest roles for any actor. I was also wondering if this movie would not be good material to teach Auschwitz and the theme of the concentration camps in schools. And I was wondering, once more, how all this could have happened. When you see the guards, hit the prisoners, see how malnourished they are, so hungry that they would almost kill their own for a tiny piece of bread. The way they had to sleep with such little space. When you watch how thousands are forced to take showers but were ultimately gassed. When you see the piles of clothes, shoes, hair, jewelry… and the piles of bodies that had to be cremated. How could anyone help in any of this? How could that happen? I think we need to have such movies, we need to know what humans are capable of, and stay alert and never let this happen again.
Another question I was asking myself was: Would I like to visit Auschwitz? I must admit, I wouldn´t. I believe that places can store pain. I would not want to get this close to it. What about you? Would you want to visit Auschwitz?
Oliver Stone: One of the Greatest Film and War Movie Directors
When I watched Savior the other day, knowing it was produced by Oliver Stone, I thought of all the outstanding anti- war movies this man has done. Many film directors have chosen to do war movies but there are just a few that we associate more with the genre than others.
His trilogy of Vietnam war movies is probably known by almost anyone. Platoon is one of my Top Ten favourite ones, but I think Born on the 4th of July is equally powerful. Heaven and Earth, the third one, may be a bit less accomplished but maybe we have to see them all together as three different points of view of one war.
His name stands for many other extremely good movies that often circle around the themes of war and violence. War movie purists would not mention Alexander when speaking about war movies, I think it is debatable. What is not debatable is that Alexander is highly watchable.
Salvador is without any doubt a further war movie. The Doors has a look at the Vietnam war, politicians like JFK and Nixon have to be associated with war. You could say that Wall Street is the war of the brokers and Natural Born Killers a personal war.
And even World Trade Center could be called a war movie (actually the only one I have not seen because of the obnoxious Nicolas Cage).
For me The Doors is Oliver Stone´s only failure. As much as I normally like Val Kilmer, as Jimmy Morrison he was just sacrilegious.
Be it as it may, Oliver Stone is an interesting film director.
I posted two tributes to him, both from Film Festivals, one from Austin and the other one from Zürich.
They are a bit different in as much as the Zürich one also shows some bits of interviews with Oliver Stone whereas the Austin one is purely dedicated to his movies.
Do you have a favourite Oliver Stone movie? I must admit that apart from Platoon I have watched Alexander more than once.
The Admiral aka Admiral (2008): Not a Russian Master & Commander but Anna Karenina meets the Russian Revolution
I am not sure how many people outside of Russia know Admiral Kolchak. I’m afraid not a great many. At least I did not know him. But not knowing this historical figure may lead to an odd situation. Either people watch this movie for the wrong reasons and will be disappointed or they might not watch it at all. This would actually be a pity since The Admiral is a very sumptuous movie. Beautifully filmed and very gripping.
As stated in the title The Admiral is not a Russian Master & Commander. After the initial ten minutes of naval battle scenes there is no more fighting on ships. These initial ten minutes however are very gruesome and intense. After this sequence the movie starts to resemble Anna Karenina for many reasons. It is a beautiful tale of tragic adulterous love and full of portents, like the breaking glass at the ball in the beginning which reminded me of the accident scene in Anna Karenina. (By pure chance I have just very recently watched Anna Karenina, that is why I realised how very similar they are with regards to the love story apart from the fact that this is a true story.)
The love story between Kolchak and Anna, who are both married when they meet, is only one part of the movie. It is interwoven with the part that follows Admiral Kolchak. 1917 after he has successfully fought the Germans at sea, the Russian Revolution strikes and changes everything for the aristocracy. Kolchak flees to Japan and returns after a few months to head the anti-Bolshevik white troops that were to fight the Red troops. This is the beginning of the Russian Civil War that we see in all its ugliness. If Kolchak had been succesful there would maybe never have been a Soviet Union. Well, he was not successful. In the end he is taken prisoner and sentenced. Anna, the woman he loves, follows him even though they would have let her go. Quite a sacrifice.
It is quite a fascinating story and I have a feeling I am not doing it justice here. If you are interested in history, and especially Russian history, you should watch it. If you like tragic love stories then you should watch it as well.
My only reservations regard the flow. There a quite a few breaks in the movie, it seems a bit disrupted at times.
Do not watch the trailer as it is highly misleading and gives the impression of a pure naval combat movie.
Savior (1998): An Extremely Grim Movie about the War in Bosnia
Thanks to TPC who commented on my post “Welcome to Sarajevo” I discovered this movie and have finally watched it.
Oh – my – God.
Before even trying to attempt to describe this movie let me quote from a NY Times review by Stephen Holden:
As Mr. Quaid’s character, Guy, perilously makes his way through the war-torn countryside, the film portrays a land whose people, regardless of ethnicity, have been reduced to animalistic survival tactics by the violence that has devastated the region. The war has turned seemingly ordinary people into potential murderers, rapists and torturers. And the movie’s unblinking scenes of atrocities are among the most graphic and upsetting ever shown in a commercial film.
This sums up quite a lot. Savior is really heavy stuff and so depressing. The goriest battle scenes from any WWI, WWII or Vietnam movie can never get as depressing as this. Like the war in Rwanda. A tribal war.
Gritty realism is not all we see and I did have my problems with this movie. There is a very Christian undertone all through it. Or not even an undertone, rather a loud drone. The character change of Guy (Dennis Quaid) is psychologically not very convincing. I can understand that he goes berserk after his wife and his son get blown up in a terrorist attack but from then on… He escapes with his friend (Stellan Skarsgard – not one of his better roles and far too short) to the French Foreign Legion and from there we follow him to Bosnia where he is fighting as a mercenary on the side of the Serbs. We see him commit atrocities until he and another soldier, Goran, get to drive Vera, a pregnant young woman back to her family. She has been raped by a muslim and is now being treated as if it was her fault. Her fellow Serbs hate, blame and despise her for this. Goran is a brute and what we see him do to an old woman and later to Vera is almost not watchable. I tell you, not for one second do you want to imagine yourself in the situation of one of those women.
The illustration of women as victims in war movies does find its sad culmination point in Savior.
After Vera has given birth under the most inhuman circumstances something snaps in Guy and he seems to reclaim his humanity. From then on he is “The Savior”. It is not very subtle that the filmmakers chose to show us repeatedly that Guy is wearing a cross with a three-dimensional Christ nailed to it.
The bleak parts that deal purely with this godforsaken war are overwhelming. Maybe it would really have been too hard to watch if they hadn’t tried to gloss it over a bit. Be is as it may… This movie exudes such an honest try at showing the atrocities of this war that I really think it should be watched. What makes me extremely thoughtful is to think that if these atrocities had been invented by a script writer we would say: “What a sick mind!”. But this did happen… And not even so long ago…
A brief remark about the music. This movie has a very beautiful score, in parts traditional regional folk songs sung by mysteriously haunting female voices. Some of it can be heard in the trailer.
What do you think? Any people from ex Yugoslavia reading this? Is Welcome to Sarajevo the better movie?
I am not sure if Welcome to Sarajevo is better, but it is less controversial. When it comes to liking I must admit I am partial to Savior. I liked it much more than Welcome to Sarajevo. There is something in the character of Guy that I could relate to. Probaly his utter loneliness that encloses him like an aura. This cold sniper personality he is wearing to shield himself and hide that he has been deeply wounded… I don’t approve of his acts, of course, but from an emotional point of view I think I get him.
Movies on Pearl Harbor: Pearl Harbor, Tora!Tora!Tora!, In Harm´s Way, From Here to Eternity
Any nation´s traumatic experiences have led to numerous attempts to capture the event in a movie. Pearl Harbor is no exception. There are a great many Pearl Harbor movies. Some are very well-known, others hardly at all. Some are very good, others rather not.
I would like to present four of those I have seen. Three of them are also romances, one is a pure war movie. Each and every one of them might very well get an extensive review in the future, but here, as teasers, four short glimpses at four special movies.
The one that generally everybody will immediately think of is the Jerry Bruckheimer production Pearl Harbor (2001) . The main theme is the love story of two men (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) with the same woman (Kate Beckinsale), a nurse. They are both fighter pilots and at the time when Pearl Harbor is attacked, they are stationed there. The movie starts slightly before the attack and ends shortly afterwards. It doesn’t try to show the other side. The Japanese are just plain bad. Period. As corny as this movie may be (although I think it works as a romance), it still shows an impressive re-enactment of the attack. For that and for a few exciting aviation scenes it is worth watching.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) is really different. This US/Japanese co production is an incredible attempt at showing both sides. And it does manage to do so. The Japanese are shown in all their tragic complexity and their fear, as Admiral Yamamoto states, that all they have done is to “awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”, is quite moving. This is the best movie if you really want to get a feel for what was happening and why the involved parties acted and reacted like they did. It is filmed as well in English as in Japanese which heightens the authenticity. A must-see. An eye-opener. A truly good movie.
Of course there had to be a Pearl Harbor movie with John Wayne in it. Otto Preminger´s In Harm´s Way (1963) starts just shortly before the attack, shows it from the perspective of a naval ship and later follows the main characters into battle in the Pacific. It is one of those black and white all-star casts that really works (Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Dana Andrews). The acting is superb. Pictures are nice, the background story, also a love story, is convincing, and the score is very good. An enjoyable watch. Not very heavy on history but still a good movie and a fine example of a film dedicated to this disastrous event.
Don´t we all know this picture? It is one of the most famous movie stills ever. From Here to Eternity (1953) is a movie I totally love. It is my favourite of the four, even though I must admit Tora! Tora! Tora! is way more informative. The story that is based on the novel of James Jones is intense and dramatic. The acting is fabulous. Go and try to find this nowadays. From Here to Eternity is also an all-star cast, with Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed. This movie is one of the very great classics, right up there with Casablanca. Yes, that’s what I think. A movie to watch and re-watch. It has won multiple Oscars. You can see Monty in one of his best roles ever. Pearl Harbor is not the movie´s main theme but it does end with the attack on Pearl Harbor. It tells the stories and love stories of different army soldiers on the eve of the attack and somehow seems to juxtapose the tales of the people, their sorrows and woes with this national catastrophe.
One thing is for sure, pick any of them and you will not regret it. Even Pearl Harbor is at least good old escapist entertainment.
Hart´s War (2002): A Dubious POW Legal Melodrama
There are numerous movies I could have watched while lying in bed with a cold the other day. I have a big “soon-to-be-watched” DVD pile and choice is far from scarce. There are many war movies and – believe it or not – a lot of non war movies to choose from. I didn’t really feel like watching anything too heavy so Hart’s War seemed like a good option.
It actually still seemed like a very good option more than half an hour into the movie but then it started to dawn on me that this was one of those hybrid movies, that are neither this, nor that nor anything else. Yeah well, seems as if disappointment is the daughter of bad choice and false expectations.
To cut a long story short: it was not my cup of tea. Although I appreciate the subgenre of the legal drama, this came across as a pseudo legal drama that I found less than convincing.
One good thing: Hart´s War is another movie that can be added to the small list of WWII movies with African American soldiers in it (see my post on African American Soldiers in War Movies).
Apart from that, you watch it and forget it and think: Too bad it could have been good if… If what?
What’s the story? A young law student, Lt. Hart (Colin Farrell), get’s captured by a German patrol while driving someone through the woods and ends up as POW after having been tortured before giving away some information. The highest ranking officer among the prisoners in the camp, Col McNamara (Bruce Willis) immediately dislikes him as he despises him for lying about the fact that he has collapsed after a few short days under torture. As a sort of punishment he is not allowed to stay in the barracks with the other higher ranking officers but must join the barracks of the privates and the lower ranks.
This does not work out too bad until the day two black American pilots (Terrence Howard and Vicellous Reon Shannon), two of the Tuskegee Men in fact, appear and things get nasty. Full-blown racism hits them. Hatred and aggression follow until one is executed and the other one falsely accused of the murder of a white soldier.
Even though he has only been a second year law student before the war, Hart gets appointed as the defence attorney but after a while it gets clear that it is all a sham. Secret things are happening that need a cover-up. I found the justification of what is happening morally dubious. The end does not always justify the means.
The rest of the movie is a pathetic illustration of pride, honour and glory. Highly melodramatic.
The two black actors are good, Colin Farrell is quite all right but Bruce Willis is a parody of himself. Or maybe he had something in his eye. The height of his acting seemed to consist of standing there with one eye half closed and trying to look super imposing. (Just to make things clear, I do normally like Bruce Willis.)
Meaningless pseudo-court-drama with a melodramatic ending. 2.5/5 points (2.5 points are for cinematography, choice of the topic racism in the military… Forget the rest).
How to Kill the Reputation of a Genre or Rambo: First Blood Part II
I have gotten many negative reactions when I have told people that I am interested in war movies. There are many people who think a war movie will always glorify violence and favour supermacho heroes that are close to brainless machines using guns for fun and sport.
I was always reluctant to watch Rambo until I finally gave in. I don´t think that First Blood Part I is that bad. The depiction of a Vietnam vet with post-traumatic stress syndrome is quite OK. However, I don´t like Stallone. His facial expressions are far too limited.
But when it comes to First Blood Part II… That is another story. I truly believe that this movie damaged the reputation of the whole genre.
“Do we get to win this time…?” Now seriously… Do you not consider this to be totally tasteless?
Here is what the journalist James Mottram has to add:
If the original film suggests men like Rambo are still fighting the war back home, be it on the inside or in a mountain-town, its sequel took far greater liberties. By the early 1980s, after the dust had settled on grandiose epics like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter, Hollywood saw the opportunity to rewrite the history of the Vietnam War. A film so guilty of this it should be court-martialled, Rambo: First Blood Part II recast its embittered lead - jailed in a civilian maximum-security prison between the first two films – as a one-man wager of war. A pure “fighting machine”, as his mentor and father-figure Col. Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna) dubs him, he is a nostalgic reflection of what Philip Caputo, in his 1977 book A Rumor of War , called “that savage, heroic time… before America became a land of salesmen and shopping-centres. (James Mottram in Under Fire: A Century of War Movies, p. 155)
What do you think? Did Rambo: First Blood Part II not have its part in killing the reputation of war movies?
Hope and Glory (1987): Seeing War with the Eyes of a Child
Hope and Glory is such a lyrical and beautiful movie. A rare gift of total enchantment. Like a perfect summer day.
Bill is only 9-year-old at the beginning of WWII. He is the only boy in a house full of women as his father has joined the forces. For him and his little sister the war is a great adventure. They don´t really understand the dangers. Bill collects shrapnel and plays with other boys in the ruins of the houses in his street in a suburb of London. At night they run for cover from the constant bombing. When their house burns down, his mother takes them to the country where her parents own a splendid stately home on a lake. The children enjoy idyllic summer holidays. They go fishing with their grumpy grandfather or play cricket. Their mother´s sisters join them, as do other family members. At the end of summer the war holds a special surprise for them. Their school has been bombed. It is easy to understand what joy this bears.
Hope and Glory is also a look back at a lost world where families were much closer, where life, despite the hardships and the war seemed somehow better than today. And of course it does remind us of our own childhood that often with hindsight seems like a lost paradise with little daily worries. Still the depiction of the war is very realistic. For us with our grown-up´s eyes there is no mistaking it for a joyride.
Hope and Glory (1987) Trailer
War seen with the eyes of a child… Endless holidays, summer. An enchanted time that has gone forever.
Hope and Glory is one of the Top 100 war movies of all times. Sheer beauty.
Review will follow soon.
