Emotions and reactions to films about war

My first experience with a film depicting war (not counting Star Wars) was Mel’s Gibson’s 2000 film, The Patriot.  Before seeing The Patriot, I had not really been into films about or depicting war because I believed at the time that I could not stomach the violence and senseless killings of civilians.  Some people can watch a war film with a cold sense of detachment, while others (like me at first) can only watch for a few minutes before becoming disturbed by the content of the film.  After seeing The Patriot, a couple times and watching other films like Saving Private Ryan and Glory, I realized that I could watch war films without it troubling me too much.

Why does the idea of films depicting or describing war bother us so much emotionally? Is it because it reminds us of our capacity to commit cruel acts, especially on women and children?  Is it because of our fear of dying?  Is it because of our unwillingness to face the past?  Who knows?  All we do know is that sometimes films about or depicting war disturbs usemotionally.  This reaction that we sometimes feel about war and films is natural and sometimes we like to forget about all the wars we fought or the atrocities committed during these wars, but sadly if we did that, we would be forgetting our history and as George Santayana famously once said,“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

One of the best films that depict the horrors of war in such a emotionally powerful way and illustrates the point of why we should never forget about history is Elem Klimov’s 1985 film, Come and See.  Come and See is about a boy named Florian (Florya) who witnesses the killing of civilians (including his mother and sister, though he does not see this particular action) before and after joining the Partisans (a group of Soviets who use guerrilla warfare to resist the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union). In Come and See, as we watch the horror unfold, we see Florian age before our eyes because of the atrocities he observes and experiences.  In the beginning, we the audience see Florian wanting to fight for his homeland and is eager to leave his home to accomplish his goal.

At first everything appears to be going well for Florian, he meets up with the partisans and even earns the respect and friendship of an older girl named Glasha.  However, as the film progresses, Florian’s life begins to become nightmarish as he is subjugated to atrocities committed by the Nazis.  In one particular instance in the film, Florian and a group of villagers are all rounded up and locked in a church.  Only, those without children or able bodied are allowed to leave the church.  Florian escapes but witnesses the Nazis setting the church on fire with the villagers in it.  A mother tries to escape with her baby, but the Nazis grab her baby and throw it back into the church; she is later taken and is violated by the Nazi soldiers.  It is this atrocity and other dangerous and violent experiences that aged Florian greatly during the course of the film.

Another aspect of the film that is emotional and powerful is the use of real footage that shows Hitler’s rise to power and the crimes against humanity shown in a reverse montage of time after Florian finds an image of Hitler in a puddle.  He shoots at the picture while the reverse montage happens on screen, only stopping when an image of Hitler as a baby appears. When I first saw these images it made me depressed because if Hitler really had been killed earlier in his life, the Holocaust and perhaps World War II would never had happened.  The use of the reverse montage by Klimov reminds us of the atrocities Hitler inflicted on the world and that no matter what we do or wish; these horrible atrocities will forever remain in the human psyche.

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Klimov’s film is the title itself.  The title for the film Come and See according to Roger Ebert comes from the Book of Revelation (Chapter 6), which states, “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” As one can see, the passage from the Book of Revelation, fits the title perfectly for the film because the film is about human suffering and death.  Basically, Florian’s experiences in the film can be described as hell, which some have argued is the very definition of war.

Watching Come and See is hard to do, but it should be done because we should not forget what we humans have done to each other.  Seeing Florian change from a fourteen old boy in the film with the effective use of makeup to an older person is really disturbing and emotional for the audience.  In fact it is hard, but the point Klimov is trying to make about this film is that real people like Florian have experienced situations similar or worse than him and that we should remember events like these depicted in the film, so that we can learn from this and history does not repeat itself.  In the end, Come and See is probably one of the hardest films I ever watched and the experience did shake me little, but watching has allowed me to gain a better appreciation of life and how lucky I am in life.  After watching this film, you may too.

Reflections on 2011

As we sit back and await another new year, I been reflecting about 2011 and what the year has meant to me. First off, the year has been another year of highs and lows for me and because my dad went to Afghanistan for the second time.   It has been a little stressful but we manage to stay positive.  So in a sense, the year was not to bad, though it could have been better. I thank God everyday for living and giving me the opportunity to learn and do new things.

Eisenstein’s mastery of film editing and montage

When watching a film, we mostly focus on how a story unfolds or powerful acting from actors like Toshiro Mifune or Marlon Brando. Often, we forget to appreciate how a film is edited and put together by a director.  Editing is important in film making because it helps lay out and piece a story together.  Without it, films and television shows would run longer than necessary and crucial acting scenes in a story would not have the same emotional impact.  Imagine a sword fighting scene with Toshiro Mifune suddenly ending without explanation or a big payoff. We would all be outrage.  That is why editing matters in films.

Sergei Eisenstein, a Soviet film director, was one of the first directors to effectively use film editing and montage in his films. What does montage mean? According to video editor, Richard Azia, “montage literally translated from French is assembly, the process by which an editor takes two pieces of film of tape and combines them to emphasize their meaning. It is a method by which through two unrelated shots we may create a third and different meaning.” Basically, an example of a montage could be a shot of a man taking a Coke bottle from a refrigerator and another shot of an empty bottle. What do these two shots mean? It means that the man drank a bottle full of Coke.

Eisenstein’s first film, Strike, marked the beginning of his effective use of film editing and montage.  In Strike, Eisenstein shot and edited the film in such a way that we, as an audience sympathize, with the factory workers who work in poor conditions, while the rich investors live life on easy street.  Perhaps, the most powerful use of film editing and montage that Eisenstein uses comes at the climax of the film, where the factory workers and other civilians are shot in a field by Czarist soldiers with alternating scenes of cows being slaughtered thrown in.  Believe you and me, the scene makes me want to forget about eating hamburgers for awhile.

Why is this use of alternating between soldiers shooting factory workers and other civilians with the slaughtering of cows, so powerful use of film editing and montage?  It’s hard to put into words, but it’s obvious what Eisenstein is trying to say with the execution of the factory workers and killing of the cows.  That the factory workers and other civilians who were gunned down are no different than the cows, which are slaughtered for food.  Basically put, by editing these two different scenes together, Eisenstein shows how two unrelated shots can produce a shocking and gut-wrenching scene.

Like Strike, The Battleship Potemkin, is another film where Eisenstein uses effective film editing and montage.  In the film, the sailors on the Potemkin have a mutiny and take over the ship, where they dock nearby at Odessa.  The city folk are supportive of the sailors, but in typical Eisenstein fashion, the city folk are gunned down on the Odessa steps by Cossacks working for the Czar in a morbid rhythmic way.  Eisenstein shoots the scene in a way that conveys a rhythm because the Cossacks seemingly keep coming down the steps and civilians keep dying as they flee.  The scene where two mothers are shot and their kids (one of them a baby) dying on the steps .

Once again, the Odessa steps massacre scene, highlights, Eisenstein’s effective use of film editing and montage to elicit a reaction from the audience.  After all, seeing a mother and her child die is bad enough, but when two are killed on screen. It’s agonizing, but that’s the point.  Eisenstein is trying to get the audience to sympathize with the city folk and sailors who are both fighting to improve their lives. By editing, The Battleship Potemkin, this way, Eisenstein understands how film editing and montage can be effectively used to move a story.

Alexander Nevsky, like Strike and The Battleship Potemkin, is another film that captures Eisenstein’s motif of killing civilians and kids (do you sense a pattern like I do?) to elicit sympathy and outrage.  In the case of the outrage, the audience is supposed to loathe the Teutonic Knights, Catholic knights of the Holy Roman Empire, who massacre a city’s population.  Eisenstein shoots a scene in the film where it looks like a child is thrown into a fire.  This scene like other Eisenstein death scenes is effective because we are supposed to be sympathetic towards the population of the city and hate these Catholic invaders.

Eisenstein portrays Alexander Nevsky (our hero) and his army as good and honorable people willing to die to stop the Teutonic Knights from killing any more Russians.  This is pretty effective, especially when the Russians and Knights meet up at the “Battle of the Ice”, where we see the Teutonic Knight dressed up in sinister fashion and coming into the battle in a slow motion like state.  When both sides collide, it is chaotic because it is sometimes confusing to tell which army is coming from.   I think editing and shooting the sometimes confusing direction of both armies coming in, is effective because often in battle, aren’t the battles themselves chaotic and confusing sometimes? Portraying the sinister look of the Teutonic Knights and their Catholic ways, as opposed to the Russians’ lack of any religious expression, with the exception of the images of the Russian Orthodox Church and its bells , is another way of trying to have the audience sympathetic to the Russian (really, Soviet state) way of life.

Overall, film editing and montage are important in film making because they help move a story along and elicit reactions from the audience.  Sergei Eisenstein, the Soviet director, was one of the most effective directors in film making to use film editing and montage to cause an audience to react to the characters and story of his films.  Workers being gun down, citizens massacred on the Odessa steps, and a population of Russians in a city wiped out by Catholic invaders were all filmed by Eisenstein to elicit strong reactions against enemies of the Soviet society that was built up after the 1917 Revolution.  In the end, Eisenstein was one of the best directors to use film editing and montage effectively.

ETA: Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving break !

More Arkham City Fun

If you haven’t played Batman: Arkham City yet. Then you’re missing some fun. Here are some more videos from this awesome game.

ETA: Happy Halloween Everyone!

9/11: a day never to forget

On this day ten years ago, I was a senior in high school at Osbourn in Manassas, Virginia. The day started out like any other typical school day, I attended my first and second period classes without fully realizing the horror that was happening outside in the real world. I found out soon enough in my third period class, when my teacher announced that terrorists had hijacked two planes and crashed them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.  She also told us they hijacked another plane and crashed it into the Pentagon and a fourth plane with its destination undetermined (later, we found out passengers had fought back against the terrorists and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania).

I remember feeling completely shocked and helpless when I saw the images on the television, especially when both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. I was overcome with emotion, but I held the tears back because I did not want to cry in front of everyone. Believe me, it was hard to do. A lot of people were in tears or very close to it.  Lunch time, which was normally loud and festive, was quiet and subdued. Eating lunch felt hollow and sad. Worry also plagued my mind because my mother and aunt worked in DC and I had trouble communicating with them to see if they were safe. When I finally went home, I found my mother and aunt were safe and alright.

That night, I cried for the loss of life and the heroism that was shown by the fire fighters, rescue workers, police officers, and coast guard members who risked their lives to save people trapped in the twin towers of the World Trade Center before they collapsed.  Seeing the towers go down hurts. Even after ten years, every time I see footage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapse, I have tears in my eyes.

9/11 changed us all that day and I believe we should never forget what happened that day.