Quote: The film is made according to a real event. At the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, the Bulgarian occupiers intensify the oppression and torture of the civilians in order to prevent the spreading of the Revolution for the liberation of Bitola’s environs. After the treachery of the peasant Dime Paftar, who informed the occupiers of the presence of partisans in the village of Lavci, among whom is the legendary partisan Todor Angelov – the Teacher, for whom a warrant has been issued, the Bulgarian chief of the police staff and the major of the Bulgarian soldiers in Bitola organize a joint action to attack the village. Read More »
Quote: Les Camisards brings events to the screen from the period in French history in which King Louis XIV ordered all Protestants to convert to Catholicism. The film begins just after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1598-1685), a proclamation that had granted official toleration to Protestants. Rather than being a sweeping epic, this film examines the fight of a small group of Protestants for survival in the mountainous Cevennes region. Some of the story is told using excerpts from the diary kept by an actual participant in the conflict.Read More »
During the Korean War, a newly commissioned lieutenant find that they are trapped when the enemy surrounds their position. He uses ancient tactics he remembers from his history books to try…Read More »
The story of the investigation to unravel the mysterious death of a beautiful young woman in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. She is not Krystyna Holzer, as stated in her kennkarte (German-issued identity document), but a Jewess kept hidden by a Pole – a polonized Saxon – attorney Karol Karlzer. Before the outbreak of war, the woman was his student as well as the object of his unrequited love. The case is assigned to Detective Chief Inspector Rafal Król, an officer of the so- -called Blue Police under the control of the German occupiers, but also a soldier of the Polish underground, sworn to execute his orders. It is a suspenseful story set in the faithfully-recreated reality of occupied Warsaw and Zakopane.Read More »
In 1940, during World War II, an officer is sent to investigate rumours of German spies in a sleepy village where various people are the victims of war hysteria.Read More »
Japan’s Last World War Propaganda Film The last film produced under the national film policy before Japan’s capitulation in August 1945. “Kita no san-nin” stars an impressive cast of Japanese stars such as Setsuko Hara, Hideko Takamine, Susumu Fujita and Takashi Shimura in a last attempt to boost the public’s support for the war. The film is set at a little airport in the North of the country, where three young women are part of the military radiocommunication unit, supporting the local pilots and airport staff. Their joined effort and their private hardships bring these women together, such as the death of Yoshie’s brother who also used to be Sumiko’s fiancé. By showing the young woman’s efforts as pure and good, the film delivers its propaganda message: endure your hardships for the greater cause. The film was only screened once after it’s relase in August 1945 and then – not very suprisingly – locked away by the American occupation forces. The top cast, the melodramatic take on propaganda and some decent action scenes however render it an interesting part of Japanese film history.
During the winter of 1944, Kitani, a soldier, returns to his unit in Osaka after a two year absence. None of the men inducted with him are left, and his new comrades greet his sulky attitude with suspicion and resentment. The men have been told that Kitani was in hospital during his absence, whereas he was actually in prison: caught between two officers competing for a lucrative position, Kitani had been accused of stealing a wallet belonging to Hayashi, a First Lieutenant. The resulting inquiry had extended into Kitani’s personal life, with letters written to his lover construed as expressing anti-military sentiments.Read More »
Quote: July 2014. Expectant parents Irka and Tolik live in the Donetsk district of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. Their nervous anticipation of their first child’s birth is violently disrupted as the vicinal crash of flight MH17 elevates the forbidding tension enveloping their village.Read More »
