inglorious bastards
the premise of this film probably sounds pretty outlandish to most people, but the truth of the matter is that the storyline of the movie is actually partially inspired by real events. during world war II thousands of jews living in palestine at the time volunteered for service in the jewish brigade under the british army. the majority of the soldiers saw action in italy towards the end of the war. in the big scheme of things, their role is basically a small footnote in the history of world war II, but in israel, it's a really big deal. in solidarity, the official insignia on their uniforms was a yellow star of david imposed over blue and white stripes, and many of the soldiers from the brigade helped bring valuable war experience to the country when it was in it's nascent state and was forced to fight wars against multiple enemies. i think haim laskov who was a soldier in the unit even went on to become chief of staff of the IDF.
i usually don't buy into most aspects of the classic zionist narrative. however, this one is an exception. in a nut shell, to me, it represents the essence of why we are here. i could honestly give two shits about any of the religious significance of this place. it means nothing to me. i appreciate it's antiquity, but i'm hardly moved.
the symbolism of what the brigade stood for is something that's deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness here. they pretty much set forth the core precepts of the IDF. and understanding this is crucial in order to better understand israeli society as a whole...
so, when the war ended, instead of returning to palestine immediately, large groups of these soldiers decided to remain in europe. not satisfied with allied efforts to bring nazi war criminals to justice, they stayed behind and formed unsanctioned assassination squads and hunted down and killed nazis who went into hiding. there are a bunch of books about their war time activities here. the most important of which is the course of action they took to help children and refugees who had lost all of their family.
this is from a documentary that was on israeli tv last year. it's funny, the grandson seems to speak hebrew with a slight italian accent.
i usually don't buy into most aspects of the classic zionist narrative. however, this one is an exception. in a nut shell, to me, it represents the essence of why we are here. i could honestly give two shits about any of the religious significance of this place. it means nothing to me. i appreciate it's antiquity, but i'm hardly moved.
the symbolism of what the brigade stood for is something that's deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness here. they pretty much set forth the core precepts of the IDF. and understanding this is crucial in order to better understand israeli society as a whole...
so, when the war ended, instead of returning to palestine immediately, large groups of these soldiers decided to remain in europe. not satisfied with allied efforts to bring nazi war criminals to justice, they stayed behind and formed unsanctioned assassination squads and hunted down and killed nazis who went into hiding. there are a bunch of books about their war time activities here. the most important of which is the course of action they took to help children and refugees who had lost all of their family.
this is from a documentary that was on israeli tv last year. it's funny, the grandson seems to speak hebrew with a slight italian accent.
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