Best War Movie Ever

Discussions on WW2 and pre-WW2 related movies, games, military art and other fiction.
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Hans1906
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#196

Post by Hans1906 » 18 May 2020, 20:48

Good evening Ivan,

I have seen the movie "Savior" two, or three times long ago, and I would not like to have the film in my private collection.
For many reasons...

The much to harsh and realistic killings are unbearable, for me as an innocent bystander.

Btw, my ex ladyfriend, her first name was "Zlatica" ("Little Star") has lost a large part of her family in the conflicts there at that time, murder and manslaughter, even among simple neighbours, I don't want to write more about it.
It is a small miracle that some of the victims survived this horror unharmed, but whom do I tell...

Kind Greetings from

Hans
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

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Ivan Ž.
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#197

Post by Ivan Ž. » 18 May 2020, 21:13

Hello, Hans

As I wrote, the brutality of "Savior" is similar to the one already shown in "Okupacija u 26 slika" in 1978. Showing completely realistic scenes of brutality is not art. It's called lack of artistic imagination. But hinting it, so well that you experience the horror without even seeing it, that is art! How many scenes actually showing extreme physical abuse are there in "Иди и смотри"? None! All the horror has been hinted, with sound, scenery, facial expressions and overall atmosphere. And it's still far more brutal than any of the movies actually showing acts of brutality.

I'm deeply sorry about your ladyfriend's family; during wars, it's always the civilians that suffer the most. Sadly, Hollywood, and many others, keep showing war almost like a male sport match between two teams with weapons, far from the brutal reality. (Btw, Zlatica means "gold coin", i.e. something precious; the Germans would translate it as "Schätzlein").

Cheers,
Ivan


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Hans1906
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#198

Post by Hans1906 » 18 May 2020, 22:58

Ivan,

thanks for your translation, "Zlatica" was always called "Zla" by her mother, long ago...

To sorry, I am not able about the situation back then, her mother was 24/7 on alert, for years...

Zla visited her homeland a few years later, the lady couldn't report it, it was just too much.
Today I think this last visit was not good , and a very sad and bad experience.

Btw, I like to mention the docu "Warheads", directed by the german director Romuald Karmakar, a docu from the
year 1992, 182 minutes about this infamous war.

Strange stuff, but also very important, the docu tells the other side of the whole story...

Link: https://www.romuald-karmakar.de/film/warheads

Photo from the docu attached, makes you shiver..., crazy war addicted idiots, more than strange...

Hans1906
warheads.jpg
warheads.jpg (146.04 KiB) Viewed 985 times
P.S. No link to the whole docu, just try another google-search...
Last edited by Hans1906 on 18 May 2020, 23:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Ivan Ž.
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#199

Post by Ivan Ž. » 18 May 2020, 23:28

Hans1906 wrote:
18 May 2020, 22:58
thanks for your translation, "Zlatica" was always called "Zla" by her mother, long ago...
Off-topic, but since you mentioned it: her mother surely called her Zlata (short for Zlatica). Zla means "evil", "bad".

Cheers,
Ivan

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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#200

Post by Hans1906 » 20 May 2020, 16:39

Ivan,
you are right, family back then in the area around the town Banja Luka, her mother a catholic christian, the father a serbian muslin, the perfect mixture to stand between all fronts. She was a very petite redheaded woman, very fair skin with a lot of freckles on her face.
And yes, Zlata was her nickname.

Sorry for another OT again.

Hans
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#201

Post by Hans1906 » 20 May 2020, 18:03

Back to the subject...

as a little moviegoer I grew up with the movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
In the small village cinema on the other side of the street, the entrance fee was only about 1,- German Mark under the age of 12, a lot of money back then, for the same price you could buy 10 balls of ice cream in the ice cream parlor, an expensive pleasure back then...

I remember a few american war movies, starring the american actor Mr. Jack Palance.
His physical appearance, especially his face was simply fascinating, for a little german boy in a cinema.
The typical american GI "Frontschwein", hard, merciless, that's how we saw these films back then.

"Ardennen 1944", english title "Attack!" was one of these movies, when the movie from the year 1956 was shown in the german cinemas, we boys were about 10 years young, i don't remember exactly, but this one movie was a formative experience on the subject of war.

Attack! 1956 / Wikipedia (E) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_(1956_film)

My mother and grandmother always tried to control our ways into the cinema, but we boys always found a way into the movies that were actually forbidden to us. It was always a challenge...
If all these films did us good, i don't want to judge that anymore decades later, but all these films were impressive, and I have seen many of these films that were not approved for our young age at that time, most of them...

Hans
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#202

Post by Hans1906 » 20 May 2020, 18:55

War movies were completely taboo in my younger years, this was strictly observed in the families of that time.

Whenever I had the opportunity as a youngster to see one of these films, I was there...
Very first war movie was "The Naked and the Dead" from the year 1958.

Alone in the house one evening, I was watching the movie late in the night on TV,
I even recorded the complete soundtrack of the film with my first cassette recorder from tv, and created a memory with excerpts from the newspaper, like a somewhat "shrine".
(I even rember Aldo Ray as "Croft", the picture is still in my mind...)

The movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked ... ead_(film)

I've probably heard the film many times, why, that would be a good question...?

Everything was forbidden to us, that was probably a special challenge.
The few documentaries about the german concentration camps at that time, taboo for us children, our eyes were closed, or we were banned from the tv room, always, extremely strict.

I remember my mother, born 1935, crying, she could not watch all this anymore, already in the 1960s.
What else should one write about it, a few memories, nothing more, halfway normal german family, nothing special.

Hans1906
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#203

Post by askropp » 20 May 2020, 19:14

I never watched this movie, but I read Mailer's novel. Now I read the summary of the film on Wikipedia, and I'm shocked once again what Hollywood made of this masterpiece! Croft dies, and Hearn survives? This is pure crap and negates Mailer's message! There are no "happy endings" in war, and it's not the "good guys" who survive.
There are times in history when staying neutral means taking sides.

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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#204

Post by Ivan1987 » 21 May 2020, 21:12

Hans, those are some very interesting posts you write here. Keep up the good work.

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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#205

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 22 May 2020, 20:37

Went through the topic did not see

The Enemy Below , a US DE vs U-Boat battle, which Star Trek also did in the episode "Balance of Terror"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_Below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2v-6tIqi2k full movie



And also "The Beast" A movie about a Afghan "Freedom Fighters" :wink: , chasing a Russia Tank/Tank Crew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(1988_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6khlNi4PZk full movie

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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#206

Post by Hans1906 » 23 May 2020, 10:11

Good morning Christopher,

thank you for mentioning the movie "The Beast Of War" from the year 1988, an extraordinary film, at least for an american production at the time...

To sorry, the quality of this copy on YouTube is more than bad, a small agony to watch the film in such poor quality... :roll:

There are one or two modern russian movies about the war in Afghanistan, to sorry, I do not remember the titles of these movies,
surely someone here in the forum has a clue...?

Rambo/Stallone nonsense not to mention in this topis, a waste of money and time!

Hans1906
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#207

Post by Waleed Y. Majeed » 23 May 2020, 11:09

One pf the russian Afghanistan films is “The 9th. company”. About a company of soldiers protecting an outpost in the mountains and left behind during the russian retreat.

Waleed

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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#208

Post by Hans1906 » 23 May 2020, 12:07

Good morning Waleed,

thank you very much for your note, the russian movie "The 9th Company" from the year 2005 is one of the very few "modern" russian movies about the war in Afghanistan.

Link to the english Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_9th_Company

Typically, these films are broadcast on the german TV late at night, on rather third-rate TV channels.
I remember the film, but I would not allow myself to make a judgement... :roll:

Hans1906
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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#209

Post by Waleed Y. Majeed » 23 May 2020, 12:43

There’s a few good danish language films worth watching.
“Under sandet” - about mineclearing in Denmark 1945.
“9. april” - the invasion of Denmark.
“Flammen og Citronen” - primarily about two members of the danish resistance. Flammen, his codename (flame) was a redhead amd Citronen (lemon) bevause he drove a Citroen.
“I krig og kærlighed” - about the danes forced to fight for germany in WWI.
“Fuglene over sundet” - about the escape of jews to Sweden with the help of their fellow danes.
And the Norwegian “Kongens valg” - the invasion of Norway and the kings decision of fight or flight.
These are all WW related made within the last 5-10 years.
Besides these there are also a few about danish military participation in Afghanistan.

Waleed

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Re: Best War Movie Ever

#210

Post by Hans1906 » 23 May 2020, 12:51

Greetings to the topic,

let me mention another german so called "War Movie" from the late 1950s, (1959) "Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben".
("Dogs, do you want to live forever...")

Wikipedia (D) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunde,_wo ... ewig_leben

Another film about Stalingrad, a group of the most famous german actors gathered at that time.
Not a masterpiece, but with rather sparse possibilities at that time, a small classic of german post-war cinema was created, an important film, in the mirror of the years of that time.

The movie in german language:



A success in the german cinemas at the time, the film is now only rarely shown once on german television.

Well, please form your own opinion about this film from the year 1959.

Hans1906

P.S. The movie was rated back then for *"persons above 14 years..."

* It takes a lot of patience to see these films again these days...
What might have seemed important to our fathers and grandfathers may seem ridiculous to us today.
It was a different time, the former victims and perpetrators were sitting in the cinemas, these films should not be judged much differently.
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

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