Colditz 2x13, "Liberation"

[kindkit]

The advancing Allied front lines have almost reached Colditz--the only remaining questions are whether the Americans or Russians will get there first, and what the SS might do in a last-ditch defense of the Reich.

Comments

[kindkit]

1) I remember liking this episode a lot when I first saw it, but it doesn't hold together as part of a careful and character-focused rewatch. Part of the problem is that Ivan Moffat is constrained to follow the actual history of Colditz pretty closely, leading to conflicts with characterization that was established by a looser approach to historical fact. (The Kommandant, for example, comes across as a time-server and ass-coverer in his approach to dealing with the SS and the prisoners. This may have been true of Colditz's actual commandant at the time, who was the last of several, but is out of character for the fictional Kommandant, who's been there since 1940 and has more than once risked a lot to ensure the safety of his prisoners

[halotolerant]

1&2) It is such a shame that this episode got handed to Ivan Moffat rather than someone who'd served time with S1 - best case scenario, Crisp or Winch. He does persist in giving screen time to his American characters and the two British officers (chap with a moustache and chap with a fringe) who he seems to have invented because... there weren't enough British characters already? And the Frenchman with a beard... what is that about? Combined with a general approach to trying to tell what is, frankly, more of a docudrama of the fall of Colditz than any kind of personal story, there's very little emotional involvement in this episode and what little there is comes from the quality of the acting and the previous investment one has put in for earlier episodes. Simon is the ONLY one of the three characters that this show was supposedly about still left, and yet I reckon he has ten lines or less here. There is no acknowledgement of the journey any of the characters have taken, no back references, no reminisciences. The strength of this show

[kindkit]

more of a docudrama of the fall of Colditz

Maybe they were afraid of more angry letters from Pat Reid or Airey Neave? Neither of whom was there, although that didn't stop Pat Reid from writing about it.

chap with a moustache and chap with a fringe

Richard and Chris, respectively. Neither of whom managed to be half as interesting as Harry despite being in five episodes or thereabouts and having many times his number of lines. I don't think my fondness for Harry is just due to what we've invented for him, either. He had some actual personality and charm in "Ace in the Hole," whereas Chris and Richard are mostly either dull or unpleasant. I really don't understand either why Moffat was so obsessed with his boring OC or, more importanty, why he was allowed to hijack the show with them as he did. (Some kind of awful behind-the-scenes power struggle between the BBC and Glaister on the one hand and Universal Picture and Moffat on the other, is my guess.)

[kindkit]

3) I was, I will admit, entertained by the "what will you do after the war" scene, when Nugent breaks into the conversation with his army surpus scheme but is silenced by the others' lack of interest. It felt like a much-belated acknowledgement by Moffat that no one gives a damn about his OCs. (Yes, Moffat episodes feel to me like bad Colditz fanfic rather than the real story

[halotolerant]

3) I think the looks everyone gives Nugent are partially based on the fact that he's been there (as Dodd points out) less than a year. So he doesn't get to talk about 'getting out' the way the others do. (Incidentally, WHY is five minutes taken up with him sunbathing? - although during that scene, one of the chaps standing in front of him seems to have a broken and/or unzipped fly

[kindkit]

3) Oh, yes, I'd forgotten the opening with Nugent sunbathing. I didn't note it down because it was so pointless, then two days passed between my watching the episode and my having the time and mental energy to write up my notes. But, yeah. I suspect allegory on Moffat's part ("My lovely and extremely interesting (no matter what anyone says) new American characters get no exposure because everyone wants to hear about the horrible old English! I hate them! Even though I am English, but I live in Hollywood now and that makes me a good American! Anyway, the thoughtless English keep standing in my light!" *epic flounce*).

'zoology' is their code for heavy petting/sex, basically

I am intrigued by your theories and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

4) he shouldn't be, he should never be, Simon can't bear the idea of Mohn forgettingOhhh. Yes. That would be the worst thing for Simon, the thought of Mohn truly escaping, being free of whatever it is that won't seem to let go of Simon

[halotolerant]

nothing Simon imagines gives him any happiness or satisfaction. Absolutely nothing*meebles* Ack, painful, but entirely convincing. And this is part of what triggers his leaving the 'support group' because models of happiness that he encounters there involve men being together (no one is walking around going 'and the day I really felt good was when I found the chap I was obsessed with and got him arrested') and it's... not sufficiently unappealing, actually. If it left him totally cold, he'd feel fine about the queerness (well, not fine, but he'd cope) but it provokes emotions in him that he's afraid of delving into. He had a dream, once, that he lived in Colditz again, only that it was a kind of hotel, and all the rooms were doubles, and all the men were couples, and he was waiting for room assignments and Mohn was reading them out, and he just *knew*, the way you do in dreams, that Mohn was going to come and share with him (again, dream logic) and between dreaming and waking up he felt a kind of anticipation, a good kind, that

[halotolerant]

1) I liked the first time and still do the scene with Germans, French, Americans, British and anyone else who's about sheltering in the castle cellar against the shells from both sides - it's a neat picture of the dark humour of war.

Tim makes a remark about 'feeling vulnerable' in 'a basement full of strangers' - somewhere, Dick Player is chuckling and not knowing why *g*

2) There's something that gets me about seeing the Kommandant's office collapsing and the courtyard trashed and empty... NOOOOOOOO, DON'T END!!! *whimpers*

Of course, *we* know what happens to most of these men next... *g* But for a contemporary audience, it is a bit of sudden way to leave them.

[kindkit]

1) That is a good scene. I especially like the German officers eating their meal off to one side by themselves whie the "other rank" guards mingle fairly amicably with the British etc. So many lines of division even in a basement full of strangers.

2) The moments that get me are seeing Ulmann burn the papers, and then especially the Kommandant turning away from Preston after their goodbye and literally bumping into an American soldier who seems to be looting the picture of Hitler that hung in the Kommandant's office. And, yes, the empty courtyard and the silence.

it is a bit of sudden way to leave them

The first time I watched I had a moment of "Wait, is that all?"