(no subject)
I've been watching Netflix (Instantly on Your PC!!) movies. Every week, I seem to stumble onto a WW II movie that I simply must watch. The only bad WWII movie I can think of was Pearl Harbor, and really, that wasn't bad except the story surrounding the actual event.
Okay, so....
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas:
Although the story focuses on the friendship between a German boy and a young Jewish prisoner, it's not a feel-good children's movie. The ending is horrific. Some people criticized the movie for painting the Germans during WWII as human beings, people with whom we can sympathize. It's ridiculous NOT to do this. If we assume that the holocaust happened because Germany was packed full of inhuman monsters, then we can ignorantly pretend that 50 years of evolution, education, and enlightenment has made us immune to ever committing something so atrocious. But there are seeds for a repeat of the holocaust in every political ideology, religion, or non-religion today.
Sophia Scholl: The Final Days:
Here, several students are arrested, tried, and executed for spreading anti-Nazi pamphlets on a college campus. In the reviews on Netflix, some people (a wee bit dated) complained about their own lack of freedom during the oppressive reign of George W. Bush. It irritates me to see people undermine actual oppression like this. Stop being such whiny, spoiled children who are throwing tantrums because their guy didn't win--this goes for Obama opponents as well. It's one thing to be vigilant. Quite another to cry wolf.
The Goebbels Experiment:
This is a reading of Goebbels's diary, combined with footage from propaganda movies, news reels, and photographs. Joseph Goebbels was highly educated, intelligent, and talented, but he was also unhappy and lacking a purpose. That was, until he found a savior in Adolf Hitler, who was working to usher in a revolution to change the face of Germany. Goebbels became a master propagandist under Hitler. He took his craft very seriously. However, he possessed a certain amount of hatred and disappointment in everyone around him. He seemed to adore, then despise anyone who didn't live up to his expectations. He was haughty and elitist and very, very alone.
There can never be enough movies made about WW II. There's so many stories contained within a span of 5 or 6 years, from Japan's prison camps to Italy's "benevolent" dictator to Germany's attempt to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth. I love history, especially recent history. The past puts the present into context.