WAR FILMS

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Comment by GODFORGE on June 2, 2008 at 1:52pm

GRADE = A
COME AND SEE is one of the most bleak and sureal war movies I have ever seen. This is an Russian movie to the core. Partisians fight and die with good 'ol communist conviction. There is no glorification of war here. No romanticism. Nothing spoils a beatiful day in a productive little communist village like a maurading division of nazis soldiers. We get to see a happy young boy turned into a zombie-like killing machine over a couple of days as his innocence is obliterated with everything else around him. This movie should be required viewing in every highschool. War is hell and those who wage war deserve temendous punishment. This is film-making at it purest. Not a feel good movie. As an American who lives in relative luxury as my government wages war on poor folks across the world I felt a strong desire to try and make some kind of change after seeing this film. Unfortunatly that feeling did not last long. Maybe someone else will do it. I am too busy watching NETFLIX.

Comment by Alex DeLarge on May 28, 2008 at 3:58pm

Great reviews GODFORGE! I created this forum not just for recommendations from other members, but to share our insight and observations. It's nice to say "I recommend ____" to our friends but another thing entirely to explain "why". War films are sometimes entertainment but more often moral and cultural reflections into shattered glass: many faceted jagged and bloody metaphors. Please, let's see more reviews!

Comment by Alex DeLarge on May 28, 2008 at 3:44pm

"Oh, where are you coming from, soldier, gaunt soldier, With weapons beyond any reach of my mind, With weapons so deadly the world must grow older And die in its tracks, if it does not turn kind?" -Stephen Vincent Benet.

THE WAR GAME (Peter Watkins, 1966, UK)Peter Watkins faux-documentary on the effects of a limited nuclear strike on Britian is violently realistic and the unflinching camera-eye peers deeply into the black and damaged souls of the "survivors". This may be the precursor to Reality television as Watkins delivers a voyeristic narrative with the camera's intimate and ubiquitous presence. The people are interviewed amid the rubble and destruction, sometimes as the events are still unfolding! Watkins does not shy away from the blood or gore and the images of broken and shattered bodies and minds is truly horrific. Banned in the UK for many years until its debut in 1985 because this film openly criticizes the governments strategy in response to a real nuclear war and shows the frightening and nightmarish Hell that awaits the human race. Made in 1966 but relevant in 2008. (A)

Comment by GODFORGE on May 28, 2008 at 9:38am

Grade = B- THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY
This is a very well made movie as far as most cinematic criteria go, but I have to give it B- because I stongly disagree with the way the film makers seemed to validate some very misguided motivations. On the one hand the film does a good job of showing how war is often a no-win situation for those directly involved and yet on the other hand it tries to hold one side up as being moraly superior to the other and therefore justified in perpetuating the violence that tears thier loved one's lives apart. I felt that the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. By the end of the movie I was angry at just about every character for being so pig-headed about their pride and political beliefs.
The brother against brother theme is one that strikes a particularly painful chord with me as an American. I have always felt a little shame that my country fell into such chaos and bloodshed during the Civil War. This movie unfortunately holds one fanatical brother in almost saintly high regard instead of pointing out that they are both assholes for letting thier personal convictions justify horrific acts. However, this flick does do a good job of showing how fanatical beliefs can make apparently rational people do crazy things. It also painfully depicts how hard it is to get people to work together to form a functional government after the shooting stops. After watching a movie like this it is amazing to me that any stable governments exist in a world where people feel so strongly about opposing viewpoints.
I also found it very frustrating that so much linquistic realism was used in the film. I understand the value of using authentic languages and accents in a film and yet it can detract from the story telling if the viewer cannot follow the dialog. it was not "user friendly". I had to turn on the english subtitles "for the hearing impared" just to follow the spoken words even though they were in English.
A good movie but not much fun to watch.

Comment by GODFORGE on May 27, 2008 at 7:38am

Grade = A FLANDERS gets an A on the Godforge scale mainly because it of its unrelenting portrayal of human beings as rutting, killing brutes who are only marginaly more sophisticated than the farm animals they live with. I love movies that strip away the gloss and polish from humanity and show it for what it really is. FLANDERS boils down the human condition like pig fat in a rendering cauldron.

Synopsis: Andre and Barbe rut in the mud like pigs. Andre goes to war. Andre kills, rapes and runs. Barbe kills her unborn child. Andre comes home. Andre and Barbe rut in the mud like pigs.

This may not sound like a good movie but it really is. Around this very simple and very real example of human behavior, the filmakers have woven a visual tapestry of beatiful landscapes and vignettes of life reduced to sublime simplicity. These kids live in a veritable Garden of Eden but do not appreciate it because they are either wrapped up in their own selfish brooding (Barbe) or simply dumb as a fence post (Andre). The acting is excellent and the sets and costumes are totally convincing. The war gore is juicy and the rape scene is too. I found myself caring for the characters with all the compassion and interest that I would have for my blue ribbon spring pig. I was charmed by the minimal...heck almost nonexistent dialog. The less words the better in a subtitled flick. The only thing that bugged me was that the soldiers seemed sloppy and poorly trained, but that may well have been an intentional statement by the filmakers. They don't make many movies like this and its a treat.

Comment by Alex DeLarge on May 21, 2008 at 10:07am

True that, GODFORGE, True that!

Comment by GODFORGE on May 21, 2008 at 9:31am

I just had FANDERS and THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY sent to my house. We shall see.
I loved SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. I think it was great that the German who the captain showed mercy to wound up killing him in the end. Life is a bitch and no good deed goes unpunished.

Comment by Alex DeLarge on May 21, 2008 at 9:00am

I've never seen Fuller's MERRIL'S MARAUDERS but must queu now. I watched THE STEEL HELMET a few weeks ago and Fuller was ahead (no pun intended) of his time with gritty and violent war films. No wonder he clashed with the studios who probably wanted war 'John Wayne" propoganda movies.

Comment by Spindaddydad on May 21, 2008 at 7:20am

Just saw Merril's Marauders got a new DVD release last month. Just added it to my queue. Been a long time since I've seen that one.

Comment by GODFORGE on May 20, 2008 at 8:39am

When I was 16 years old My Dad took me to Hawaii on a business trip. The first day there, he went to work and I had the morning to myself. I had the brilliant idea to eat an ounce of psychedelic mushrooms and walk around Waikiki beach. The shrooms hit me so hard I panicked and sought refuge in a dark movie theater. The Movie was PLATOON. I watched the movie under the influence of way too much fungus and was scarred for life. (not realy)

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