War

  • Rudolf Jugert – Kennwort… Reiher (1964)

    1961-1970DramaGermanyRudolf JugertWar

    Film Synopsis:
    France 1944: American pilot Philip Sturgess is shot down but found by a resistance group. In the neighborhood Sturgess meets another American and shortly thereafter the British Major Barton, called “Reiher”. He claims to have fled a German prison camp. Shortly before leaving for Spain to escape the Nazis, Sturgess discovers that Barton has written a letter to Germany. This confirms the suspicion that he could be a German spy…Read More »

  • Andrzej Wajda – Samson (1961)

    Andrzej Wajda1961-1970DramaPolandWar

    Nominated for the Golden Lion in 1961 at the venice Film festival

    “Samson” is the story of a Jew, Jakub Gold (Serge Merlin), at the polytechnic university in Warsaw imprisoned and sentenced to 10 years for accidentally killing his friend in German- occupied Poland. In prison he makes several contacts that will factor later in the movie. The prisoners are released when Warsaw is bombed. Jakub is sent to the Warsaw ghetto where the Jews are “doomed to death for the crime of existence” and is assigned to picking up corpses from the streets and helping to provide them with a Jewish burial. Along the way he picks up his own mother. After one such burial Jakub and another man escape from the ghetto. After he escapes he desires to go back into the ghetto to share the fate of his kinsmen. Read More »

  • Stuart Schulberg – Nuremberg (1948)

    1941-1950DocumentaryStuart SchulbergUSAWar

    The official U.S. government film about the 1st Nuremberg trial (The Trial of the Major Nazi War Criminals) which lasted from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946.Read More »

  • Cesare Canevari – L’ultima orgia del III Reich AKA The Gestapo’s Last Orgy (1977)

    1971-1980Cesare CanevariExploitationItalyWar

    A Jewish WWII survivor revisits the ruins of a hellish concentration camp, and the memories are still vivid. How did she escape the humiliation, the tortures, and the destruction of human flesh? How did she flee from Gestapo’s last orgy?Read More »

  • Haskell Wexler – Latino [+Extra] (1985)

    USA1981-1990Haskell WexlerPoliticsWar

    Quote:
    Set in the context of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and their battle with the U.S.-backed Contra rebels. Eddie Guerrero (Robert Beltran) is a Vietnam War veteran sent to help U.S. Special Forces train Contra rebels. Eddie falls for a local girl, Marlena (Annette Cardona). However, when her father is killed by the Contras, things change.Read More »

  • Wolfgang Staudte – Rotation (1949)

    Wolfgang Staudte1941-1950DramaGermanyWar

    Plot Synopsis:
    This powerful, World War II drama frequently cited as one of the most important films in German history tells the heated tale of a family divided over supporting the Nazis or fighting for the equality of all races and creeds. Originally censored by the Soviets for its unwavering message of pacifism, Rotation finds father turning against son as the troubled family patriarch agrees to print up Nazi fliers in hopes of improving the family finances before
    being betrayed by his Hitler Youth son. When the bombs stop dropping and the bullets stop flying, father and son are forced to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives despite their troubled past.Read More »

  • Aleksander Ford – Pierwszy dzien wolnosci AKA The First Day of Freedom (1964)

    Aleksander Ford1961-1970DramaPolandWar

    The First Day of Freedom (Polish: Pierwszy dzień wolności) is a 1964 Polish drama film directed by Aleksander Ford. It was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.

    Quote:
    Freed Polish soldiers are trapped in a small town in Germany during the last days of World War II. After a doctor’s daughter is raped by a concentration camp worker, the Poles allow her and her father to stay in the house that is their temporary quarters. While waiting to be repatriated, the war-weary group is forced to fight some German soldiers who invade the town. The war brings out conflicting emotions of the Poles who find themselves trapped in the house and once again under fire from the enemy. by Dan Pavlides, RoviRead More »

  • Andrzej Wajda – Pierscionek z orlem w koronie AKA The Crowned-Eagle Ring (1992)

    Andrzej Wajda1991-2000PolandWar

    Quote:
    A young commander of Warsaw Uprising tries to continue his activity under conditions of Soviet occupation. He makes contact with an insurgent from the People’s Army, now the head of the regional committee of the PPR. In the mask of a collaborator he wants to save the rest of his people.

    The screenplay was based on Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski’s novel “Pierścionek z końskiego włosia” / “The Horsehair Ring”, withheld by the censors in 1965 and first published in 1991. Wajda included in the film a scene modeled on the famous scene with spirit lamps from “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958). (1958), in the vicinity of a meeting between Marcin and Wiśka, who are awaiting the outcome of talks between the PPR and AK (Home Army).Read More »

  • Carlo Lizzani – Mussolini ultimo atto AKA The Last Days of Mussolini (1974)

    Carlo Lizzani1971-1980DramaItalyWar

    In 1945, Benito Mussolini goes to Milan to talk with Archbishop Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster to request his help in escaping from Italy. The Republic of Salò, the last bastion of fascism, is decaying, and the Americans, along with the partisans are about to win control of Milan. Mussolini flees, pursued by his lover Claretta Petacci, and manages to get to the northern village of Dongo. There he clashes with the Germans, who order him to disguise himself as an officer of Germany rather than be captured by the partisans. Mussolini accepts without objection, always hoping for a revolt of his loyal fascists, but they are in jeopardy. When Mussolini is recognised, Walter Audisio, the leader of the partisans, initially wants to hand him over to the Americans, so that Mussolini undergoes due process. But the war crimes of the Duce are too great, so Audisio makes the decision to shoot him in front of the Villa Belmonte in the village of Giulino, along with his female companion.Read More »

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