Another Holywood Boo Boo
 

I'm surprised at this one. Although there were a lot of brutes as far as treatment goes in POW camps as far as the Japanese Army goes here's something that totally threw me for a loop. I was listening to CBC radio this morning, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for those not in the know. Anyway a man from Victoria BC was on David Bucham was his name. He was talking about the movie Empire Of The Sun and how the whole situation at the camp was backwards. Hayashi the man who was the head man at the camp according to testimony after testimony and there were many of them was a total gentleman. Those were the words used. Anyone who got sick got the best care possible. No one was ever harmed. The reason these Boo Boos bug me is people watch these films and take them for fact. Especially when they're made by someone like Spielberg

Ever compared 'Pearl Harbour' with 'Tora Tora Tora'? I'm not saying TTT was a perfect representation of history but it was better than the Mills & Boone PH version.

One film I would like to see made is of the book "Dunkirk - the men they left behind". I met one if them last year and read the book as a result. Some of the things that happened on the forced march to Germany were as bad as some of the Japanese stories. Well, perhaps its better left in the past. I don't suppose any side was whiter than white.

As we're considering fiction and reality I am reading a book called "74 Squadron" written by Ira "Taffy" Jones and published in 1954. It even has 3/6d printed into the cover (that's 17.5P to the newer guys). Its a no-punches-pulled view of his former enemy by a man whose life was blighted by two world wars. He flew in the 74 "Tigers" Squadron with Mannock in WWI and there was none of that chivalry business. "Send then down sizzling" (Mannock), shooting parachuting Balloon spotters, strafing enemy aircrew when they crash landed and the German pilots were the same apparently. He carried his own personal hatred into WWII when he was in command of Training establishments and trained guys like Sailor Malan who he feels didn't pull any punches either. It probably wouldn't be printed today, not PC.

There's a few

http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Dunkirk&s=all

Oh ....and of course. Tora Tora Tora and The Battle Of Britain are the only two films you don't feel like a total lawn slug for flying blue after watching them and this doc..Battle of Britain: The Real Story. Usually the Japanese and Germans are screaming bloody murder half the time..in Hollywood films anyway.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPYT0...feature=relmfu


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AWoj...feature=relmfu

I can recomend Erik Lomaxs book "The Railwayman" for anyone interested in the effect of torture on the victim and perpetrator.

Your little note about Spielberg is really inapproprate at the end of your posting. It's like everything you said relates to his productions. That is entirely out of context.

Spielberg is one of the greatest directors and producers... He marches to his own music, and produces consistent hits that people want to see and appreciate, i.e., Jaws, E-T, Shindler's List, and so on.

The man understand entertainment and you will be entertained when you view any of his works.

He doesn't write the stories, which he has said many, many times. He communicates them in a way that is entertaining.

So, if the story isn't true or he doesn't dig into the historical record to corroborate all claims and lies is that his fault. He is making entertainment. I respect what he does, even if I did think Saving Private Ryan was a corny story that was embellished with the atrocities of war.

Anyone who thinks there're getting history from films which are designed primarily for entertainment is a fool.

Its just unfortunate that there are so many fools who then think that this is fact.

So many idiots, so few bullets.

if people watch these movies and takes them for facts they probably need a better education or simply need to learn reading, so they can read the bit where it says "the facts and names portrayed in this movie are purely fictional and not based on real events" :rolleyes:

I frankly think the main issue is that we tend to portray things like the war from one perspective only, which is painful and limiting.

We need more movies like "Stalingrad", "Das Boot" or even "Schindler's List" to have a more fair portrayal of the war end the people involved in it.

It's not like all the Nazis were evil monsters or the Allies were all good people that did only good.

The time of propaganda linked to WW2 should be long gone, but some stereotypes are hard to kill.

Richie. You are having what is called an epiphany. Yes! People are that gullible. We need them types because if they didn't exist who would buy everything you sold them? No one would be making money. Someone has to buy it. How else are you going to afford that yacht hmmm???

I recall viewing some WW2 films where Eisenhower made German people living in proximity of concentration camps to walk through those camps for posterity. Yes, I think it was viable because he knew those atrocities would be swept under the table with time.

People should not blame German people in total. I don't, Hitler took away their guns and all ability of the people to organize and resist. The German people became pawns to do his will. Hitler had Brown Shirts, Gestapo, and SS. Some of the smartest and brightest murders ever to grace this earth to do Hitler's will. What person or groups of persons in their right mind could build an insurgency against such pervasive forces. There was no way they could build any resistance suffcient to overthrow the Nazis.

All three of the Hitler police forces could kill anyone (including Germans) on the spot with no trial or recourse for murder.