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Reviews
Kelione per Lietuva (2010)
Some insightful interviews spoiled by astoundingly stupid commentary
This is supposed to be a travelogue by a British "cultural critic" to Lithuania, slowly emerging from the ravages of a half century of communism, but it rapidly becomes apparent that Mr Ellis is no intellectual, and his questions and rants would be laughable if they weren't so tragic. The producers of this travesty manage to find some intelligent individuals for this fool to interview, and most give cogent answers in spite of his silly questions.
I can't imagine what was going through the minds of his interviewees as he pontificated about the "revolution of the pelvis" or "dangerous musical ideas" while gesticulating wildly. His ideas, such as they are seem to apply more to the advent of rock and roll in 1950's America than to social change in Lithuania.
The worst though is when he announces (on a love lock bridge) that he hates traditions in general, but likes new ones. This in a country still struggling to reconnect with its own traditions after the communists tried to destroy every vestige of national self-identity. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Anyway, I personally would love to see an intelligent and insightful documentary on Lithuania and what it's reemergence from the iron curtain has meant to itself and to Europe. I guess I'll have to wait a while longer.
Gekidô no Shôwa-shi: Okinawa kessen (1971)
Inaccurate and melodramatic
I'm really surprised at the positive reviews this film has received and the high IMDb rating. Reading them at times I wondered if we was watching the same movie. I'm going to have to disagree with the other reviewers and say that the film doesn't work, either historically or dramatically.
Historically, it's wildly inaccurate. The whole movie suffers from the need to portray the Japanese in the best possible and most heroic light. A few examples: by April, 1945, the Japanese pilot corps had been almost totally destroyed. The Japanese were unable to train new pilots at the rate they were being killed. This is one reason why they resorted to suicide attacks. And yet we are to believe that large air forces still exist and were not employed in Okinawa because the army was unwilling to attack the American forces and recapture the air fields to the north. Another example is the Yamato. The Japanese Navy in the north had been almost destroyed, and what remained lacked fuel, but the admiralty felt the need to make some sort of gesture and sent their largest battleship. The plan had always been to beach and scuttle the ship on Okinawa and use it as a gun platform, but instead we are told that it's mission was to bravely sail amongst the Americans and fight until it was out of ammo. Unfortunately before she could do that, she was attacked by those dastardly Americans who flew gigantic squadrons of planes against her (100 planes attacking a single ship at once?). What tripe.
Unlike movies like "Tora Tora Tora" or "Midway", there is no attempt to personalize or portray the other side as anything but mindless, bloodthirsty automatons. The Americans are shown as surprisingly weak, unable to cope with the Japanese in hand to hand combat, and most of the Japanese appear to die by artillery fire or mowed down by tanks. It's the kind of chauvinism one would expect from a John Wayne movie.
Now, I don't expect historical accuracy from a John Wayne movie, but I do expect it to be entertaining. However, this movie is just too confusing and poorly written. Worse of all, it resorts to melodrama. I lost count of how many times women and children were used to manipulate the audience's emotions.
All in all, I don't recommend it.
Apocalypse: La 2ème guerre mondiale (2009)
It has its good and bad points.
I take exception to the statements that this is the greatest WW2 documentary ever made. It's a fairly standard history from a French viewpoint, with the additional gimmick of being colorized. Yes, colorized, not "restored," as the original was never in color in the first place. Some of the footage is new, but most has appeared in previous documentaries.
Black & white footage is not easily colorized, and can often appear fake, even surrealistic. So, while it sometimes works, making certain scenes more vivid and realistic, it often works counter to its purpose.
Much of the new footage has not appeared previously for a reason: it is extremely disturbing. Dead and decaying bodies abound. This is a war documentary and so is perfectly appropriate, but I would not allow small children to watch.
The commentary avoids controversy by being rather simplistic. WW2 Buffs will learn nothing new. I was impressed however, by the statement in one of the episodes, that the French communists didn't begin resisting the German occupation until after the invasion of the Soviet Union, a full year after the fall of France. This statement of course is absolutely true, but it couldn't have made the French leftists very happy.
In all, I would recommend this to WW2 and modern history buffs, only for the new footage, and to see what can and can't be done with colorization. However, for general viewers looking for a solid introduction to the war, I would recommend "World at War." For those sad souls who cannot watch b&w footage, there are series for the US, Great Britain, Japan and the Anzacs, all showing original, not colorized, color footage.