Change Your Image
gladys_fox12
Reviews
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
If you're going to get history right, get it right.
I find it difficult to believe that some reviewers' negative reactions to this film are based on their (misguided) beliefs that none of this could possibly have happened. Comments like these make it crystal clear that what some people don't know about history is appalling. If you are going to judge a film based on historical fact, it helps if you know what it is.
It is well-documented what amazing technical feats the POW's were able to accomplish in the stalags. There was even an entire section of the British Secret Service dedicated to coming up with all sorts of clever ways to send these captured men the tools they needed to facilitate their escape attempts, i.e., sandwiching maps between the split sides of a record album (yes, the Germans allowed the prisoners to have records in the camps) or compasses in pens. At Colditz Castle, one of the more forbidding stalags, (actually an offlag since is was for officers only), many, many tunnels were dug and disguises created. One man actually created a German sergeant's uniform totally from scratch, donned a moustache and created an overall impersonation so realistic, it fooled two out of three sets of sentries. Some of the POW's built and concealed an entire glider that would have carried two men off the roof and over the wall!
The Islands (2019)
Good
And that's the problem really. I thoroughly read up on Chiefess Kapiolani and everything is true, but the acting is not the greatest except the lead Hawaiian woman. Also, was not impressed with the volcano sequence. I thought it could have been better. Still 8/10.
Schindler's List (1993)
Powerful Statement about our Times
This is not just about the past, it is about our present as well. We need to look at a work of art like this to see ourselves in this movie. This is the result of a regime that no longer saw the worth of the human being. It politicize life. This leads to monstrous treatment of people (because they are not people in their eyes). I saw this film the first week it came out. We were on vacation on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. I remember my wife and I not being able to talk for almost 15 minutes after it was over and then we needed to talk about something else. There are few experiences that can do that to someone. Since that time, I've had many others tell me the same thing. Why is this movie so much more effective than other Holocaust films. First of all, there's something personal about it. We get to know the people, even the bad guys. Secondly, the recreation of the death camps is so accurate. Then there is a spot of genius, the little girl in the red coat. If anyone wants to complain about black and white, watch this film. We get to see what can be done with shades and shadows. The work of Schindler is the work of the heart against great odds. The scene at the end when the holocaust survivors visit the graveyard, is what moves the film. I think that everyone should see this film at some time. Then sit down and think about what is being done to people here in our own country.