The last film you watched....

[Iosephus Augustus]

I have a nephew and a cousin that both recently served for four years aboard US subs. The former was an Electrician's mate (Pacific Fleet out of Hawaii) and the latter was an officer (Pacific Fleet out of San Diego, California). They also think that this is an incredible movie.

[Magnus]

By far the best sub movie ever...IMO!

[Jona Lendering]

Winter in Wartime: a Dutch movie based on a well-known book that many children have read. Except for a slightly ridiculous chase, I found it better than I had expected.

It is about the Second World War in the Netherlands; a boy unexpectedly becomes responsible for a British pilot who has been shot down by the Germans. The boy's solitude is shown pretty convincingly, and you can also feel some of his dilemmas. It must be confusing if your father is mayor of the village and has to do business with the Germans; if the pilot you have started to like as your older brother, is more interested in your sister; when a German saves your life; and when the occupiers shoot people because they can not find the British soldier who has killed a German soldier. And of course, in the end, not everyone is what he seems to be.

The boy actor plays surprisingly well, but the greatest surpise was perhaps the casting of the English pilot: a very young man, which reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's phrase that the liberation of Europe by the Allies was a "Children's Crusade". The IMDB gives the movie 7.8 out of 10, and although I suspect most votes are from Dutch users, I think it is a fair judgment of this movie. Recommended.

[Narukami]

Sounds like one to watch for when / if it makes it here (perhaps on disc).

Thanks Jona.

:wink:

Narukami

[Tiberius Clodius Corvinus]

It is about the Second World War in the Netherlands; a boy unexpectedly becomes responsible for a British pilot who has been shot down by the Germans. The boy's solitude is shown pretty convincingly, and you can also feel some of his dilemmas. It must be confusing if your father is mayor of the village and has to do business with the Germans ...

... there's a similiar British film with reversed roles set in the UK about some children hiding a shot down German pilot. Was quite interesting, but I don't remember the title or if it was based on real events. :?

[Nearco]

I just have seen this:




and I am really impressed!!!! what a movie! who could spect this from a super-hero movie?? Ledger is incredible!

[Robert Vermaat]

Winter in Wartime: a Dutch movie based on a well-known book that many children have read. Except for a slightly ridiculous chase, I found it better than I had expected.

Did you read the book?
How would you say this latest 'wartime' movie figures in the long, long, long! line of movies about ww2 made over here?

[Graham Sumner]

At the theatre: Valkyrie

High production value (they got the uniforms correct and the JU88's look good) with a cast of well known actors in all parts, yet the film was, for me at least, not very engaging. This is not Downfall or The Wannsee Conference (the German film not the HBO one). Both of those films are more fascinating and more gut wrenching than Valkyrie.

One critic noted that the less you know about the history of the July 20 Plot the more you will enjoy the film, and I think that may be right. Certainly, knowing how the war ends adds some interesting aspects to watching the plotters and the loyalists maneuver for position.

Not a bad film but not a particularly noteworthy one either. The director did far more interesting work with The Usual Suspects, and most of the actors have done better work as well. (For fans of the HBO Rome series the actor who played the part of Pompey
Magnus here plays Field Marshal Keitel.)

One surprise: in the film all the security at the Wolf's Lair compound is handled by the German Army -- I had always thought it was the responsibility of the Waffen-SS. Now the film makers have trumpeted their exhaustive research and quest for historical accuracy, so I can only assume that they are correct about these security arrangements...but I still have my doubts. Perhaps one of our knowledgeable Forum members can shed some light on this.

I really enjoyed it!

There were some soldiers in the slit trenches in the woods with camo covers on their helmets which I though might be Waffen SS while others had mosquito nets, nice touch. Need expert help here to clear this up.

Rome fans also note Ian McNiece, the announcer, appears as a portly German General!

Graham.

[Jona Lendering]

I also saw Valkyrie. I have little to add to what has already been said. I also found it a very good movie.

That is something I can not say for another movie I had to see this weekend, Esther. It is part of a serieus of movies about Biblical stories. It catches the humoristic qualities of Esther, but makes the religious message more explicit; the author of the Biblical story knew better than to moralize - he shows God's presence indirectly, and more effectively.

[Graham Sumner]

Rome fans also note Ian McNiece, the announcer, appears as a portly German General!

Never realised until I saw the credits that David Bamber who played Cicero in 'Rome' was Hitler!!!

If the film was historically accurate would anyone know who was the Rommel like General killed in the beginning?

Graham

P.S

One surprise: in the film all the security at the Wolf's Lair compound is handled by the German Army -- I had always thought it was the responsibility of the Waffen-SS. Now the film makers have trumpeted their exhaustive research and quest for historical accuracy, so I can only assume that they are correct about these security arrangements...but I still have my doubts.

I do not have many books on the subject but one I do have say's this was indeed the case. Perhaps then the camo cover I spotted was in fact another mosquito net! Nevertheless given the level of security I was surprised that no one bothered to search through the briefcases first!

[Narukami]

I do not have many books on the subject but one I do have say's this was indeed the case. Perhaps then the camo cover I spotted was in fact another mosquito net!

No you were correct Graham, those were helmet covers and camo smocks on some troops and nets on others, but they were not Waffen-SS but rather Army troops in the trenches.

This question of who handled security drove me to do some more research.

Indeed the Army did provide the main security at the Wolf's Lair in the form of the Fuhrerhauptquartier (of which Rommel was the commander in 1939 IIRC) and the Fuhrer Begleit Brigade. In addition the Waffen -SS provided direct personal security.

So, the film is quite correct in depicting members of the Army as providing the outer rings of security, but it perhaps should have shown more Waffen-SS soldiers manning the inner rings of security. It is a minor point and does not detract from the overall quality of the film or the story line.

As for Rommel... I'm not certain who the general is in the opening scenes of the film though it was perhaps an allegorical reference to Rommel who was badly wounded in an air attack in France during the Normandy battles of 1944.

:wink:

Narukami

[Praefectusclassis]

Rommel was actually told to commit suicide to avoid a mock trial and scandal for his (limited) involvement in the July plot.

[Narukami]

Indeed so -- quite right.

Romml's son, Manfred, had wanted to join the Waffen-SS but his father would not hear of it. (It is unlikely he would have been elected mayor in post war Germany if he had been a member of the SS.)

Narukami

[Jona Lendering]

C'est arrivé près de chez vous. I had already seen it before, in 1992 or so, and it was even better than I remembered.

[Dutchhoplite]

Both dr. Phibes movies

Don't you love Vulnavia??