A touching story of a Czech boy who is liberated from a concentration camp and then picked up by a Czechoslovak Army laundry unit under Soviet command. He becomes the unit’s mascot, and is given the nickname “prace” or “slingshot bearer” after Czech boys who had fought with slingshots in the Czech Hussite armies of the 15th century. The boy, along with a little Slovak girl whom the unit also rescues up along the way, participate in the liberation of his homeland.Read More »
War
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Karel Kachyna – Prace AKA Slingboy (1960)
Karel Kachyna1951-1960Czech RepublicDramaWar -
Mark Cairns – Das Leben geht weiter AKA Life Goes On (2002)
2001-2010DocumentaryGermanyMark CairnsWarThe absurd and often surrealistic story of the last propaganda film of the Third Reich.Read More »
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Noel Coward & David Lean – In Which We Serve (1942)
David Lean1941-1950DramaNoël CowardUnited KingdomWarPlot / Synopsis
In the midst of World War II, the renowned playwright Noël Coward engaged a young film editor named David Lean to help him realize his vision for an action drama about a group of Royal Navy sailors (roles that would be filled by Coward himself, Bernard Miles, and John Mills, among others) fighting the Germans in the Mediterranean. Coward and Lean ended up codirecting the large-scale project—an impressive undertaking, especially considering that neither of them had directed for the big screen before (this would be Coward’s only such credit). Cutting between a major naval battle and flashbacks to the men’s lives before they left home, In Which We Serve (an Oscar nominee for best picture) was a major breakthrough for both filmmakers and a sensitive and stirring piece of propaganda.Read More » -
Michael McCarthy – Operation Amsterdam (1959)
Michael McCarthy1951-1960ActionUnited KingdomWarA British army officer teams with two members of the Dutch underground for a covert mission to Amsterdam to lift a stash of diamonds before the city is overrun by Nazi occupiers in this action-packed wartime heist drama.Read More »
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Florent Emilio Siri – L’ennemi intime AKA Intimate Enemies (2007)
2001-2010DramaFlorent Emilio SiriFranceWarReview from The New York Times, published October 2, 2009
Mike Hale wrote:
“Intimate Enemies” is a movie you’ve seen before, when it was set on the Apache reservation or in the Vietnamese jungle. This time the naïve lieutenant, the jaded sergeant, the suicidal mission with no purpose — all the components of the restless-natives combat movie — are applied to the war in Algeria in the late 1950s.Read More » -
Paolo Bertola – My Lai Four AKA Massacre at My Lai Four (2011)
2011-2020DramaItalyPaolo BertolaWarThe reenactment of the brutal massacre in Mi Lai a village in South Vietnam perpetrated by American Military forces on 16th of March 1968.Read More »
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Jonathan Glazer – The Zone of Interest (2023)
Jonathan Glazer2021-2030DramaUSAWarQuote:
Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the camp.Read More » -
Robert Stone – Der Dritte Weltkrieg AKA World War Three (1998)
1991-2000DocumentaryGermanyRobert StoneWarSynopsis
This mock documentary uses archival footage, interviews and reports taken out of context and staged interviews to highlight a possible escalation into a nuclear war. In this feature, tension in East Germany, and an uprising triggered by a visit by Gorbachev sees a successful military coup taking place in the USSR. Western actions against brutal crack-downs on civilians involved increases tension between the sides, finally resulting in nuclear war.Read More » -
Jonathan Glazer – Birth (2004)
Jonathan Glazer2001-2010DramaUnited KingdomWarAnna is a young widow who is finally getting on with her life after the death of her husband, Sean. Now engaged to be married, Anna meets a ten-year-old boy who tells her he is Sean reincarnated. Though his story is both unsettling and absurd, Anna can’t get the boy out of her mind. And much to the concern of her fiancé, her increased contact with him leads her to question the choices she has made in her life.Read More »