Timeline & Workflow

Workflow:
Each of the six blog members will watch a movie and read articles, interviews, ect. surrounding the topic of World War II. Jen will watch a movie from the French perspective called Days of Glory. Bret will watch a movie from Japan called Grave of Fireflies. Betsy will take a closer look at the Italian persective. I will focus on a film called Mephisto which is a collaboration of German, Austrian, and Hungarian filmmakers. Bethany already analyzed a movie called Before the Fall from Germany. And Joel had our very first post about the movie Life is Beatutiful from Italy.
We are also planning on commenting on one another posts to further discussion about that specific movie and its impact on the view of World War II.

Timeline:
Joel posted first, followed by Bethany. I will be posting next with Jen fourth, Betsy fifth, and Bret wrapping it up. Our plan is to have something posted about every week. Not necessarily all movies, but a movie one week followed by an article the next.

Before the Fall

When studying World War II, it is hard for contemporary students to understand how the leadership of one man led to the mass killings of Jews, homosexuals, and several other people groups. It is easy for students to dismiss the possibility that they would have joined Hitler’s Nazi regime. Yet, it is a valid question that should be answered. Would you have joined the Nazi movement if you had lived in Germany during the 1930’s?
The movie, Before the Fall, is an insightful depiction on how Hitler was able to use propaganda to manipulate people to support his cause. Based on real events, the movie follows Friedrich Weimer, a German teenager who wants to become an aspiring boxer. One day, a Nazi recruiter sees Friedrich box and offers him admission into a Nazi Napola academy (an elite, male, Nazi, political, youth school) where he can participate in a first-rate boxing program. Along with the boxing, he is to be instructed in academics as well, making it possible for Friedrich to assume a future position in the Third Reich regime.
Friedrich’s dreams for a better life are nearly dashed when his father refuses to sign the parental consent papers for his son to attend the boarding school. In an act of desperation, Friedrich forges his father’s signature and blackmails him into silence. As a student, Friedrich is educated and trained in boxing under the discipline of Nazi military principles. In being chosen to attend the Napola academy, Friedrich is given unprecedented privilege that his former life precluded.
Shortly after arriving, however, Friedrich’s eyes are opened to the cold, harsh, disciplinary methods of the school. The students are subjected to highly rigorous training exercises which require complete submission to the officers. In order to achieve total compliance, students are pitted in competition against each other; they are humiliated in front of their peers; and they live in constant fear of harsh and inhumane punishments being leveled against them. Daily, they are immersed in a culture which eradicates any traces of humanity, morality, or free thinking. Any signs of compassion, weakness, or dissension are not tolerated. As a result, the student’s individual identity is destroyed and replaced with the community identity, based on Nazi propaganda. Friedrich refuses to capitulate to the loss of his own identity when he witnesses the suicide of his best friend. Consequently, he decides to defy the regime and accept whatever consequences his defiance will cost him.
Before the Fall is a riveting account that explores the allure that the Nazi Party had on the German youth during the time of Hitler’s rise to power. This story brilliantly replicates the devastating toll that many in the youth movement experienced. It is a story that needs to be retold, lest we ever forget.
By: Bethany Smith

Life is Beautiful

Life is Beautiful

La vita è bella

This wonderful film starts out following the antics of Guido Orefice, an Italian Jew, as he begins courting a young woman named Dora, who is unwillingly betrothed to another man. Guido uses his humor and well-placed greetings of his “principessa” to charm her and whisk her away.

As Guido and Dora are raising their little boy, Giosué, political tensions rise for Jews and non-Fascists. During the boy’s birthday party, Guido and his son are arrested by German officers and taken to a concentration camp to work and be killed. Much to Guido’s distress, Dora (who was not a Jew) insists that she be taken along with her family.

Throughout their internment at separate male and female camps, Guido uses his wit this time to keep the truth of the situation from his son. He tells him they are playing an elaborate game in which there are strict rules that they must follow in order to win. Throughout this “game,” Giosué becomes convinced that he must remain hidden from the Germans, not cry, and not ask for food. The winner gets the first prize, a real version of Giosué's favorite toy, a tank.

When the war is over, the Germans scramble to gather up those remaining in the camp and kill them before the Americans come. Guido sneaks about with his son, desperately looking for Dora. He hides Giosué in a junction box and tells him that this is the final round of the game and everyone is looking for him. He must not come out of the junction box until everyone is gone and there is no noise outside.

Guido franticly searches for his wife, eventually giving his position away in trying to save her. Guido is taken and led back into an alley to be shot, but not before he passes his son’s hiding place. He sends his son one last wink, as if it’s still a game, before he is killed.

Giosué remain hidden until all sounds have stopped, faithful to his fathers command. He finally emerges from his box to find no one around. He hears a low rumbling in the distance and out from behind a building comes an American tank. Giosué is overjoyed. The game was real! He won the tank!

The American in the tank takes the boy and lets him ride on the tank as they drive past all the other freed refugees. Giosué spots his mother and shouts to her. He jumps down and runs to her. The film closes as they are in each other’s arms.

The film begins and ends with narration saying, “This is a simple story... but not an easy one to tell.” In the beginning we are led to believe that the narrator is Guido, but by the end it is revealed that Giosué was actually telling the story of his father years later.

Interestingly, the film was co-written and directed by the same actor who played Guido, Roberto Benigni. Benigni wrote the story from the experiences his own father had in a concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.

It may seem odd at first glance to combine comedy with holocaust horror, but Benigni executes this combination beautifully. The film provides an honest and emotional look at the terrible conditions of a concentration camp through the eyes of a surprisingly optimistic man exemplifying the depth of true fatherhood.

Our Plan

Over the next several weeks, we will analyze World War II movies from many countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Japan, to show how these perspectives portray the war. We will also analyze and post scholarly articles, movie reviews, and interviews about world cinema and World War II. Each member of the blog will choose one film from different countries and one article to discuss.