My first real introduction to WW1, began in 1964. That year the BBC broadcast a 26-part documentary detailing the outbreak and progress of this, 'The Great War'.
As a teenager, I sat mesmerised, as the voice of Sir Ralph Richardson narrated in harrowing tones, failure upon failure in tactics and strategy with no other result than monumental casualty figures. Ever since then I have been 'hooked'. Here are some figures: just the first day's 'Battle of The Somme' resulted in a loss of almost 60,000 British soldiers. Some 20,000 were dead. That is one third of the number of Americans who died throughout the entire Vietnam campaign (and just look how many movies have been made about that). The 'Menin Gate' at Ypres commemorates the loss of 56,000 men. But they didn't just die; they vanished. The population of a small town were completely swallowed-up by the fury. And this is only one of many such monuments. Numbers like these compel you to stop - and think.
The multinational disaster that was WW1 has been shunned by politicians and media alike. The only good thing to be said of the conflict is that it stopped. And it had to; the nations were completely drained of money and men. Ever since, it has been a military bete-noir of history. Nothing was accomplished but failure and nothing created but innumerable corpses. There was no victory, no triumph of good over evil. Even the enemy was obscure. It was a holocaust of good intentions. The war became a machine that simply ground youth into the mud. Appalling bloody battles like those of WW2 at least had a positive outcome. D-day, Iwo-Jima, Monte-Cassino, all eventually led to unequivocal victory. Each presented an opportunity for national pride and manly courage to be heroically presented on film. But not 'The Great War'. Apart from 'All Quiet On The Western Front', it has been left well alone.
'Blackadder Goes Forth' then is not only one of the most hilarious comedies written - better than 'Mash' if you consider the contrast between its scope and its brevity - but it is also a fitting tribute to all those poor souls who toiled and died and were lost.
'The team' handle their subject perfectly. Rowan Atkinson plays the knowledgeable and cynical middle-ranking officer. He is not a coward; he can see what's happening and just wants out. Tony Robinson, as Private Baldrick, embodies the millions of 'Tommies' who struggled in ignorance. Hugh Laurie plays the lieutenant with unquenchably boyish faith in his high-command. Stephen Fry - literally - is General Melchett, the remote, pompous, arrogant buffoon, touched with insanity. Tim McInnerny plays the role of a staff-officer, aware of, but indifferent too, the consequence of futile strategies. Until he is ultimately forced to confront them in the last episode: 'Goodbyeee'.
Richard Curtis and Ben Elton's script is everything you could wish for. Their jokes touch upon all of the horrors to which soldiers eventually became innured: cold, wet, shortages, rats and death.
And it is that last episode which raises the series beyond the level of simple comedy. In a brief twist at the end, we see 'the team' go over the top to face their own belated death. In slow-motion, their figures become engulfed by a hail of enemy ordnance as the theme plays haltingly on a single ill-tuned piano. Moments later, the scene segues into the poppy-reddened fields of their epitaph.
I have the series on DVD and it reminds me as much as my photographs of the many hours spent wandering along the Western Front.
Its characters seem to speak for the millions who can't.
As a teenager, I sat mesmerised, as the voice of Sir Ralph Richardson narrated in harrowing tones, failure upon failure in tactics and strategy with no other result than monumental casualty figures. Ever since then I have been 'hooked'. Here are some figures: just the first day's 'Battle of The Somme' resulted in a loss of almost 60,000 British soldiers. Some 20,000 were dead. That is one third of the number of Americans who died throughout the entire Vietnam campaign (and just look how many movies have been made about that). The 'Menin Gate' at Ypres commemorates the loss of 56,000 men. But they didn't just die; they vanished. The population of a small town were completely swallowed-up by the fury. And this is only one of many such monuments. Numbers like these compel you to stop - and think.
The multinational disaster that was WW1 has been shunned by politicians and media alike. The only good thing to be said of the conflict is that it stopped. And it had to; the nations were completely drained of money and men. Ever since, it has been a military bete-noir of history. Nothing was accomplished but failure and nothing created but innumerable corpses. There was no victory, no triumph of good over evil. Even the enemy was obscure. It was a holocaust of good intentions. The war became a machine that simply ground youth into the mud. Appalling bloody battles like those of WW2 at least had a positive outcome. D-day, Iwo-Jima, Monte-Cassino, all eventually led to unequivocal victory. Each presented an opportunity for national pride and manly courage to be heroically presented on film. But not 'The Great War'. Apart from 'All Quiet On The Western Front', it has been left well alone.
'Blackadder Goes Forth' then is not only one of the most hilarious comedies written - better than 'Mash' if you consider the contrast between its scope and its brevity - but it is also a fitting tribute to all those poor souls who toiled and died and were lost.
'The team' handle their subject perfectly. Rowan Atkinson plays the knowledgeable and cynical middle-ranking officer. He is not a coward; he can see what's happening and just wants out. Tony Robinson, as Private Baldrick, embodies the millions of 'Tommies' who struggled in ignorance. Hugh Laurie plays the lieutenant with unquenchably boyish faith in his high-command. Stephen Fry - literally - is General Melchett, the remote, pompous, arrogant buffoon, touched with insanity. Tim McInnerny plays the role of a staff-officer, aware of, but indifferent too, the consequence of futile strategies. Until he is ultimately forced to confront them in the last episode: 'Goodbyeee'.
Richard Curtis and Ben Elton's script is everything you could wish for. Their jokes touch upon all of the horrors to which soldiers eventually became innured: cold, wet, shortages, rats and death.
And it is that last episode which raises the series beyond the level of simple comedy. In a brief twist at the end, we see 'the team' go over the top to face their own belated death. In slow-motion, their figures become engulfed by a hail of enemy ordnance as the theme plays haltingly on a single ill-tuned piano. Moments later, the scene segues into the poppy-reddened fields of their epitaph.
I have the series on DVD and it reminds me as much as my photographs of the many hours spent wandering along the Western Front.
Its characters seem to speak for the millions who can't.