This famous pseudo-documentary depicts what would potentially have occurred had the Nazi invasion of Britain during WWII been successful. It presents an interesting conjecture, to be sure, but one wonders what point was being made so long after the threat had been nipped in the bud, as it were
unless an analogous contemporaneous scenario (say, the Communist oppression rife in Eastern European countries) was being addressed!
Anyway, the background to the movie under review is itself worth documenting: writer/director/cinematographer/editor Brownlow is best- known as a champion of film preservation (whose sterling work in the field was recently rewarded with an Honorary Oscar!); he was slated to introduce a September 2002 screening I attended of Erich von Stroheim's THE WEDDING MARCH (1928) at London's National Film Theatre but he eventually relegated it to an underling! Besides, Brownlow and his collaborator Mollo were still in their teens when they began work on IT HAPPENED HERE – which took some 7 years to complete! With this in mind, the semi-professional approach (some of it shot on 16mm stock, a cast almost exclusively made-up of unknowns and, reportedly, including Peter Watkins – himself an award-winning documentarist/movie director!) gives the whole an appropriate cine'-verite' feel.
The episodic narrative follows the exploits of a female nurse who, witnessing the violence by a partisan group perpetrated on both the occupying German forces and collaborationist officials, misguidedly joins the local Nationalist Socialist movement which has arisen since the Reich's takeover. Visiting old friends, they are shocked to learn of her submission to Fascism – since they were themselves harbouring an injured resistance member and hoping she would help! However, when the couple is handed over to the authorities by a neighbouring cleric(!), she is transferred to a country-side hospital only to discover that the elderly Jewish patients are being systematically exterminated by the staff! Ultimately, falling into the hands of the partisans herself, she willingly lends medical treatment to the wounded.
Anyway, the background to the movie under review is itself worth documenting: writer/director/cinematographer/editor Brownlow is best- known as a champion of film preservation (whose sterling work in the field was recently rewarded with an Honorary Oscar!); he was slated to introduce a September 2002 screening I attended of Erich von Stroheim's THE WEDDING MARCH (1928) at London's National Film Theatre but he eventually relegated it to an underling! Besides, Brownlow and his collaborator Mollo were still in their teens when they began work on IT HAPPENED HERE – which took some 7 years to complete! With this in mind, the semi-professional approach (some of it shot on 16mm stock, a cast almost exclusively made-up of unknowns and, reportedly, including Peter Watkins – himself an award-winning documentarist/movie director!) gives the whole an appropriate cine'-verite' feel.
The episodic narrative follows the exploits of a female nurse who, witnessing the violence by a partisan group perpetrated on both the occupying German forces and collaborationist officials, misguidedly joins the local Nationalist Socialist movement which has arisen since the Reich's takeover. Visiting old friends, they are shocked to learn of her submission to Fascism – since they were themselves harbouring an injured resistance member and hoping she would help! However, when the couple is handed over to the authorities by a neighbouring cleric(!), she is transferred to a country-side hospital only to discover that the elderly Jewish patients are being systematically exterminated by the staff! Ultimately, falling into the hands of the partisans herself, she willingly lends medical treatment to the wounded.