I’m normally not a huge fan of war films. I never really got into “Saving Private Ryan” and their like. But this last week I watched two world war II movies in rapid succession, because they happened to be on the television channel and found both to be compelling viewing. The one, “Downfall”, was in German with subtitles, and depicted the last days of Adolf Hitler in his bunker while Berlin fell around him. Bruno Ganz´s portrayal of Hitler was mesmerising.
The other, “Enemy at the Gates” from 2001, is a little bit earlier, but none the less, a remarkable vision of the Battle of Stalingrad from a Russian perspective. That was the first battle the Germans lost, and spelt the beginning of the end of the Third Reich (and apparently the battle with the highest number of casualties of all time)
The other, “Enemy at the Gates” from 2001, is a little bit earlier, but none the less, a remarkable vision of the Battle of Stalingrad from a Russian perspective. That was the first battle the Germans lost, and spelt the beginning of the end of the Third Reich (and apparently the battle with the highest number of casualties of all time)
I suppose I found them both interesting because they didn’t give the normal British or American interpretation of that particular period of warfare, and also because they both showed the devastating impact of all out war on a people and a city.
My generation grew up without the idea of war as an immediate reality on the doorstep. There were plenty of
other issues to deal with in the 60’s and 70’s, but war was not one of them. It was hard for us to imagine the level of deprivation and suffering that marked our parents generation, for whom, values of honour, loyalty and endurance were not just on their lips - they were written in their lives and part of their beings.
The thing that I came away with from those two films, was the madness, the savagery, the hell that marks so much of conflict that tears up our world, but in the middle of it all, glimpses of human dignity and real heroism. On the spiritual level also, I see myself and those around me caught up in a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, with the same measure of ugliness and pain, deception and betrayal, but also with a real hero and a confidence in victory
........................."He who does what is sinful is of the devil,
My generation grew up without the idea of war as an immediate reality on the doorstep. There were plenty of
other issues to deal with in the 60’s and 70’s, but war was not one of them. It was hard for us to imagine the level of deprivation and suffering that marked our parents generation, for whom, values of honour, loyalty and endurance were not just on their lips - they were written in their lives and part of their beings.The thing that I came away with from those two films, was the madness, the savagery, the hell that marks so much of conflict that tears up our world, but in the middle of it all, glimpses of human dignity and real heroism. On the spiritual level also, I see myself and those around me caught up in a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, with the same measure of ugliness and pain, deception and betrayal, but also with a real hero and a confidence in victory
........................."He who does what is sinful is of the devil,
because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." 1 John3:8
"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,
"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,
because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 1 John4:4
