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July 2000, Week 4

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Subject:
From:
David Skreiner <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 25 Jul 2000 11:08:47 +0200
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There are several wars that do not seem to appear too
frequently in film - or even certain aspects of those
wars. Here's a few ideas from central europe:

To start with WWII: Most films about the Résistance
seem to either focus on the French, or on the catholic
and almost rabidly anti-communist "White Rose". The
fights of the "red" partisans against the Nazis
in what used to be Yugoslavia were countered with
barbaric retaliatory mass executions of civilians, but
I cannot think of any film showing this area during WWII.
Same for the "red" resistance groups in Germany - they
are hardly mentioned in popular WWII fiction.

(Were the communist/socialist movements an embarassment
to anti-communist post-war Europe? They seem to be an
embarassment for some Austrian politicians now: Austria's
Minister of Finance refused to honour resistance fighters
in the province of Carinthia, claiming they had been "enemies
of this province". Hmmm.)

Spanish Civil war: Well, there was this teary-eyed nurse-
meets-writer-drama. But apart from that, few popular (if
any) war films seem to cover this particular war, though it
is very interesting: Thousands of volunteers sneaking out
of their countries to volunteer in the People's Army...
which was a shambles, almost no equipment, and internal
strife: communists fighting socialists fighting anarchists.
But they were the defenders of the righteous government,
against Franco's fascist revolution... There are records
of several heroic deeds and/or spectacular action during
that war, but I can't think of any "war film" showing this war.

World War I: Most of the films I know or I've heard about
focus on trench warfare, be it in western Europe or in, er,
Gallipoli. I haven't heard of a WWI film that focuses on, say,
naval combat, or even on the alpine front (Austria/Italy -
it got so bad there that they started blasting Mountains
to take out enemy positions, and changed the map in the process)

Further back in history, how about the well-organized Turkish
invasions into central Europe in the 1600s (or so)? This is a
bit of a political suggestion though, what with some politicians
in Austria claiming that "Europe's cultural identity lies in
the battle against the Muslim invaders"...

Or how about Haiti's revolution against the French?
Apparently, the Haitian revolutionaries defended themselves
heroically against several invasion attempts.

(Sorry if the word "Austria" pops up a bit too often. Yes,
I'm Austrian, though at the momemnt I'm inclined to add
the word "unfortunately".)

Regards,

Dave
--
David Skreiner - [log in to unmask]

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