War Movies
Last night I watched Charlotte Gray, a film starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Gambon among others, telling the story of a woman who volunteers to go to the Vichy bit of France during the war for a bit of undercover work. Then, today, I watched an episode of The World at War (the epic 1960s series telling the story of WWII using archive footage and interviews.
Watching the World at War (hereafter TWAW) inevitably makes any movie set during WWII seem woefully inadequate in telling the story. All that archive footage, some of it quite amazing (including, for example, footage taken by Luftwaffe pilots as well as Allied ones) and humbling (the state of London during the Blitz, including the dead bodies; and there was also a short set of images of the Liverpool Blitz, which is much less well known). The way people who went through the war speak about it is very rousing, especially the group of cockneys in this episode who talked about getting on with it and what it was like being near the centre of a bomb blast.
When I think of what watching Charlotte Gray (hereafter CG) was like compared to TWAW... well, it doesn't really compare at all. CG isn't a bad film at all, though it's not exactly action all the way and I didn't find it particularly thought-provoking either. Cate Blanchett is fine in it, but I found her Scottish accent annoying - the sort of accent you never actually hear in Scotland, IYKWIM! Rupert Penry Jones, who I'm beginning to think is a decent actor, wasn't in it enough to do much. Billy Crudup, who I assume isn't English, played the French resistance guy very well, and Michael Gambon was probably the best thing in it as his father. There were lots of sad bits, but they were more aimlessly sad than poignantly sad, and it was never really rousing. But still it was decent enough Sunday-night fare, though not as good as Foyle's War. And perhaps I was a little disappointed that the bad guys were more Gendarmerie than Gestapo.
CG also had a couple of interesting tactical moments. Firstly, getting it on with your cell mate in a steamy manner in order to distract the guard and so knock him out and steal his gun sort of seemed a good idea... but not flawless. Likewise, I'm not sure saying "But I'm dirty down there" is a terribly good way of avoiding being raped. Still, they both worked in this film. Incidentally, the film is based on a novel by Sebastian Faulkes, and I can rather imagine a book playing out in that way - I'm not sure it transfers so well to the screen.
So I'd choose TWAW for the entertainment factor any day over a film - even a more rousing war film in the Where Eagles Dar mold.
Watching the World at War (hereafter TWAW) inevitably makes any movie set during WWII seem woefully inadequate in telling the story. All that archive footage, some of it quite amazing (including, for example, footage taken by Luftwaffe pilots as well as Allied ones) and humbling (the state of London during the Blitz, including the dead bodies; and there was also a short set of images of the Liverpool Blitz, which is much less well known). The way people who went through the war speak about it is very rousing, especially the group of cockneys in this episode who talked about getting on with it and what it was like being near the centre of a bomb blast.
When I think of what watching Charlotte Gray (hereafter CG) was like compared to TWAW... well, it doesn't really compare at all. CG isn't a bad film at all, though it's not exactly action all the way and I didn't find it particularly thought-provoking either. Cate Blanchett is fine in it, but I found her Scottish accent annoying - the sort of accent you never actually hear in Scotland, IYKWIM! Rupert Penry Jones, who I'm beginning to think is a decent actor, wasn't in it enough to do much. Billy Crudup, who I assume isn't English, played the French resistance guy very well, and Michael Gambon was probably the best thing in it as his father. There were lots of sad bits, but they were more aimlessly sad than poignantly sad, and it was never really rousing. But still it was decent enough Sunday-night fare, though not as good as Foyle's War. And perhaps I was a little disappointed that the bad guys were more Gendarmerie than Gestapo.
CG also had a couple of interesting tactical moments. Firstly, getting it on with your cell mate in a steamy manner in order to distract the guard and so knock him out and steal his gun sort of seemed a good idea... but not flawless. Likewise, I'm not sure saying "But I'm dirty down there" is a terribly good way of avoiding being raped. Still, they both worked in this film. Incidentally, the film is based on a novel by Sebastian Faulkes, and I can rather imagine a book playing out in that way - I'm not sure it transfers so well to the screen.
So I'd choose TWAW for the entertainment factor any day over a film - even a more rousing war film in the Where Eagles Dar mold.