Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot (1981) ( above) is, of course, one of the finest men-in-peril movies this side of Predator. For the story of the Czech (and Polish) pilots who made such a big contribution to ‘The Few’, hunt out 2001’s Dark Blue World. Its two-sided portrayal of the airmen involved even extends to showing the helplessness of German bomber crews in the face of superior Hurricane and Spitfires. It also shows the critical role of radar, Operation Sea Lion, the abortive German invasion of Britain, and Hermann Göring’s blunder in switching his attack from Fighter Command to London in September of that year. Guy Hamilton’s Battle Of Britain (1969) ( above) depicts the losses suffered by the RAF at the moment of crisis that was mid-August 1940 – even Michael Caine dies in this one – and the stresses attendant with flying around Kent at high speed while half of Bavaria is trying to blast you out of the sky. It was, in the words of the Chav Pilots, like, epic, blud. For a time, the air battle over the English countryside hung in the balance with Luftwaffe mass slowly exhausting the nimble but dwindling band of defenders. The legend of plucky RAF airmen knocking down Jerry flyers before heading to the pub is at odds with the reality of the Battle Of Britain. The Wehrmacht’s post-Stalingrad retreat and slow disintegration, meanwhile, is best captured (and often in slow-mo) by Sam Peckinpah’s Cross Of Iron (1977). As a bonus, there’s no romantic subplot involving Jude Law. Needless to say, it’s not exactly jolly viewing – one T-34 assault is teeth-grindingly fierce – but it offers a realistic vision of the battle’s hand-to-hand, factory-by-factory clashes, and its traumatic impact on the combatants. There’s been a Hollywood version of the battle ( Enemy At The Gates) and a recent Russian one (in 3D!) but only the German take, Stalingrad (1993) ( above), is worth searching out. The German army went into the key battle – Stalingrad – with 300,000 men and 500 tanks, emerging six months later with about five men and a small van. Aside from a few summery days in 1941, it was Russia that was doing most of the winning – although amid the slaughter it was often pretty hard to tell. Military historians will tell you that the “Ostfront” was where World War II was won and lost, and no-one who wears tweed for a living makes this kind of stuff up.
0 kommentar(er)
