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November 1997, Week 4

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From:
Donald Larsson <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Mon, 24 Nov 1997 12:11:52 -0600
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Robert Levy requests:
 
> What I'm looking for are suggestions for works that do for WWII what has
> been done for WWI (Fussell, etc.)--particularly with a German slant;  and
> any suggestions for how the Wehrmacht (or any army) has been viewed
> through film.
>
> Also, a question:  as a medium exploited by the Nazis, postwar German
> "war" films seem highly ironic and problematic.  Other than the
> nationalistic or jingoistic functions of "war" films, does this genre
> serve other functions in society -- excluding "anti-war" films (for
> example such US films as Platoon, The Deer Hunter, etc., and German films
> such as, the recent Stalingrad...which may or may not be an "anti-war"
> film?)
 
I'm not sure if I clearly understand either question, but as to the
first, such films as DAS BOOT certainly come to mind, as does
Fassbinder's typically sardonic twist on such matters in LILI MARLEEN.
For an American point of view that is somewhat sympathetic to the
soldier's plight, see Peckinpah's CROSS OF IRON.
 
As to the latter, see the use of the war as setting to a Higher Romance
in THE ENGLISH PATIENT (a theme taken up much more strongly by the
movie than in the novel) or--for a very different twist--the use of the
German "propaganda film" in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN.  The film uses a
concocted quasi-propaganda film, while Puig's novel cites a real one
(and summarizes it fully in an elaborate footnote).
 
Don Larsson
 
----------------------
Donald Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)
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