Reach for the sky quick review

Reach for the sky is the story of Douglas Bader, a double leg amputee fighter ace in the RAF and national hero to Great Britain. When watching the film you instantly admire his character and the antics he pulls off, mainly because he tells “Jerry” where to “stick it” and his enthusiastic “can-do” attitude he has to every situation. He’s courageous, daring, determined and competitive; these plus sides lead to a huge downside resulting in a plane crash which takes both his legs. None the less he carries on his life with as much enthusiasm when he was able bodied.

My favourite quotations from him are (when talking to a nurse)

Nurse: I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth

Douglas:  you wouldn’t get a chance; you’ll be killed in the rush!

And

“You wait ‘til I get my tin legs, I’ll show you!”

And when talking to a German officer

German officer:  you must stand to attention when addressing a German officer!

Douglas: When I need your manners I’ll ask you, until then shut up!

The film is bombarded (see what I did there, bombarded, airplane ace...) with British patriotism, there are scenes where the national anthem is played and people stop and listen to it and salute, the only drink people ask for is tea, and RAF symbols are everywhere. The Germans are stereotypically presented too. They’re: abrupt, loud and aggressive. In fact the only sort of civilisation shown by the Germans is when Bader is captured and they ask for a replacement leg because one was lost when he bailed. But apart from that, this film is an amazing morale booster to Britain, even with no legs Bader was able to hold off the Germans. He could be considered to be a human metaphor, down, but still able to fight. This film is perfect for my research project, although looking at “The Battle of Britain” may be of some use. It may be better than this film in terms of what I’m looking for.

Battle of the Bulge! (A Quick review)

This film is the perfect example for your average sort of war film produced by Hollywood. And also this is the classic counter argument to the German made Das Boot, in this film, the Germans shoot defenceless allied prisoners and defenceless civilians, stuck up German officers are everywhere, and plucky Americans are getting the better of the Germans at nearly every turn.

The film is also good for facts, yes the Germans were running out of fuel very rapidly and yes they were killing defenceless people. If youre the sort of film viewer that gets a thrill out of finding contunity errors... this film is a GOLDMINE! I noticed 3 just watching it!

1)      1)the Germans were using repainted T-34 tanks (used by the Russians) as king tiger tanks

2)    2)  the Americans were using M24 Chaffee tanks up against these fake king tigers, a light recon tank up against a 70 ton heavy tank... I think not Hollywood!

3)      3)Theres a scene where Americans place white explosive on the underside of a German tank and in the next shot the explosives are not there

It’s plain to see that I have too much time on my hands in these summer holidays... hmmmmm

But apart from that, this film will do in terms of my research project. It shows the Americans side to the war. Now to move onto the British side!

Das Boot... My thoughts (a quick review to keep Mrs Wray happy)

First of all, this movie is so damn long; 4 hours of sweaty, beardy Germans trapped under the sea in their little submarine with no escape... breaking the film down like that makes it seem extremely homo-erotic, thats not the sort of film I would usually go for I swear! This is my focus film for my war film research project and I began watching the film with the pre-judgment of all the characters being Nazi raving Hitler kiss-asses right down to the core. But in matter of fact the submariners are just your average sort of people like you and me (not taking into account the massive balls these guys have to live under sea) this is the appeal and mainly the point of the film, because it is German made with a German cast and a German director, It makes you realise that the regular German servicemen were in fact human beings too, however much western film shows their murderous side.

 This is exactly the film to argue my case in point; because the Germans had near to no money by the end of the war the allied countries took the opportunity to show all Germans as being an uptight anti Semitist nation, which they were not. It is a very well directed film as well as very well performed film, not bad considering I have never seen any of the actors in it before! They must have been Germanys finest because there wasn’t a single piece of bad acting at all. When the pressure was on the submarine the pressure was on you and a sense claustrophobia lay present throughout.  A very intense piece of cinema, but I would not recommend it due to its length, I had to take 2 breaks during this! 2!