While testing human nature, war is also subtly influencing and changing human nature. Ordinary little people in the big era, no matter how they uphold their own beliefs, it is still difficult to escape the fate of being changed and affected by the times.
Text: Archie Yang
Starter: Some Broken Thoughts (ID: youxiesuisuinian)
Note: The content of this article is original, and the pictures are taken from the screenshots of the film
There have been many times in a certain sound and a certain article often brushed a film shot from the perspective of the German army, called "Our Fathers", recently the drama suddenly remembered to watch it again, originally thought it was a war film, although interspersed with some war scenes, but more about the protagonist's experience and changes in the course of the war.
Rather than a movie, it is a miniseries, with three episodes of about 90 minutes each, with germany's invasion of the Soviet Union and defeat as the timeline, interspersed with the respective experiences of the five protagonists, and each episode also narrated in the tone of the male protagonist's reminiscence.
Male protagonist Wilhelm: Second Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht, an excellent officer in the eyes of his superiors, who followed the troops to invade the Soviet Union, was a fanatical and cold-blooded Nazi follower at the beginning, firmly believing that the war would inevitably be won, and looking forward to the end of the war that Christmas that year to reunite with family and friends. In the course of the war of aggression, the captured Commissar of the Soviet Army was ruthlessly executed, and he has been denouncing the cowardice of his brothers in the same unit. With the setbacks and waiting for the war, gradually see the essence and outcome of the war, once said many times in the tone of the narrator: "Many people think that war is a simple battle, but in fact war is waiting", in the course of a street battle was stunned by a rocket, he chose to desert, hiding in a log cabin by the forest, but unfortunately was found by the gendarmes and arrested into the "probation team", (the probation team is mostly composed of captured and sentenced deserters, no weapons in their hands, do some auxiliary work for the war, It can be seen that the desperate Nazi Germany has done whatever it takes to fight the war), disgusted by the atrocities of the probation team, and finally took the opportunity to kill the captain of the probation team, hid with a comrade-in-arms, and returned to Germany after the war.
William
Male protagonist Fredheim: William's younger brother, a Wehrmacht soldier, invaded the Soviet Union with his brother William, and was set as a cowardly soldier at the beginning of the film, who did not dare to take the initiative to ask for battle, always hiding at the end of the battle, and even questioning the outcome of the war. Once surrounded and beaten by comrades in arms because of the fire that was used to smoke at night when the sentry was discovered by enemy aircraft, the little girl who was arrested by the local auxiliary police tried to rescue the little girl in Ukraine, but could only watch the poor little girl being shot and killed by the SS officers. In the later street battles, he mistakenly thought that his brother was killed by a rocket (only stunned) and aroused blood, but this bloodiness has two meanings, one is the blood in battle, and the other is cold blood on the enemy. This also doomed his future and the end: disguised as the Soviet army on the way back to the garrison was mistakenly wounded by his comrades and almost killed, and later returned to the front line after returning home from his wounds under the rescue of the heroine Xia Li, coldly executing enemy civilians and guerrillas, and still leading the people's stormtroopers to carry out sporadic resistance on the eve of Germany's surrender and was finally killed by the Soviets. But his good nature was not completely erased by the war: in order to release his friend Victor, who had joined the enemy guerrillas, he killed the German colonel who raised his gun behind his back in an attempt to sneak in; after the last resistance was discovered by the Soviets, he persuaded the PFA members to surrender and return home.
Friedheim
Heroine Charlie: She and William loved each other, but they could not confess, and on the eve of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, they obtained a nurse's qualification certificate and became a field hospital nurse. He is very loyal to the country and the army, and has always hoped to be loyal to the country through his own life-saving and wounded. When she first entered the hospital, she chose Lilia, a local woman, as her assistant, and later reported her when she found out that she was a Jewish doctor and was constantly stealing morphine from the hospital. She was kind-hearted and sympathetic to the wounded soldiers, and saved Fredheim, whose life was hanging in the balance, after pleading with the Dean. Later, in order to avoid more wounded soldiers from suffering from the war, he even sacrificed himself to the hospital director, so that when he met William by chance, he cried and said "I love you" and ran away. However, her behavior with the dean has long attracted the attention of other nurses, and has been despised by everyone, and even carried the insult that shakes the hearts of the army. Later, he failed to catch up with the hospital transfer in time, and after the Soviet army occupied the hospital, when faced with the atrocities of the Soviet army, he was saved by Lilia, who was already the political commissar, and was able to leave her life and finally return to Germany.
Charlie
Heroine Greta: A sexy and feminine German girl with a beautiful singing voice, but a quick success, she has always dreamed of being a singer. At first, he was only a waiter in a tavern, but for his dream of stardom and to save his Jewish boyfriend Victor, he became the mistress of a high-ranking Gestapo official. Under the arrangement and cajoling of his lover, he was blinded by the bright stage, and gradually became dependent on this high-ranking official, and out of helplessness and vanity, he could only be at his mercy. During a front-line condolence performance, friends reunite, but are quickly asked to leave by high-ranking officials. After missing the transfer in order to take away his precious jewelry, he stayed in the field hospital for a period of time, and after witnessing the tragic situation of the hospital, he finally realized that the war was bound to be lost. After returning home, he angrily confided the truth to several German officers and soldiers, but was reported and arrested and imprisoned. Before going to prison, she still fantasized about hoping that her high-ranking official lover would be able to save her, but she did not know that the vicious and desperate lover not only did not miss the old love, but also abandoned himself in order to protect himself. The popular big star was reduced to a prisoner in an instant, the gorgeous stage around him became a dark cell, and the charming face became increasingly pale and haggard. In the end, she had to confess her fate and was executed on the eve of Germany's defeat for shaking the hearts of the army and spreading negative ideas.
Greta
Male protagonist Victor: Unlike other protagonists, he is a Jew who was persecuted in World War II, the boyfriend of the female protagonist Greta, the son of a well-known German tailor, who should have been quietly succeeding his father's tailor shop in the past few years. Unlike his father, who believed in being a law-abiding German citizen, he had long felt that the Nazi government would dispose of its own Jews on a large scale. So he contacted the U.S. Embassy in advance to move to the United States, but was told that there was no quota. Eventually, with the help of his girlfriend, he obtained a fake German passport, and of course discovered the fact that his girlfriend had become the mistress of a high-ranking Gestapo official in order to save himself, and he did not resent his girlfriend, but left a note "Take care of my parents" before leaving. Unbeknownst to all this, it was a hoax, and when he arrived at the appointment on time, he was arrested and sent to a stuffy tank truck leading to Auschwitz. By chance, he escaped with a Polish woman and joined the local guerrillas in hiding his Jewish identity. During an ambush at the end of the Soviet-German War, exile began after being driven away by partisans after saving Jewish prisoners on the train from revealing their identities. After returning home, he found that his former home had been occupied by a German woman, so he smashed the picture frame to retrieve his parents' wedding photos and left, returning to the tavern where his friends had agreed to reunite with the two surviving friends.
Victor
War has changed the home, changed the people, changed the heart
The war turned the once prosperous Berlin into a city of ruins, destroying people's homes and destroying people's pure hearts. In the same context, everyone is experiencing different stories and changes with different identities. The angel folded his white wings and inserted his horns to transform into a demon, while the former demon had already seen through everything, pulled out his terrifying fangs, and tried to escape from this hell of killing for lies. Lovers who should be living a rich life with white heads and old age are also played with power and lies, and eventually yin and yang are separated. Of course, there are also people who work hard to stick to their original intentions, but once for loyalty, and later for redemption.
Farewell and "reunion" of good friends
Invisible hands drag people into the mire
In the progress of everyone's story, there is also an invisible hand in the hands of everyone's fate, that is, the course of the war: in June 1941, the German army approached the Soviet Union with great momentum, everyone shouted "Long live the Führer" and "Long live the Empire", trying to force the Soviet Union to surrender for half a year, and a soldier in the play mentioned: "My father has never left the farm for more than 10 kilometers in his life, do you know why I came so far?" I want to buy land in the east and get married and have children here. But if God wants a man to perish, he must first make him crazy. After all, it is an evil war, and the enemy is far more tenacious than imagined. At the same time, the long front, the lack of supplies, and the extreme cold winter of the Soviet Union, the German army was gradually defeated after briefly gaining the upper hand. A voice of defeat in this battle has spread throughout the army and the motherland, but everyone can only hide these words in their hearts and continue to fight numbly. A soldier who wanted to apply for winter semester enrollment after the war had to postpone his enrollment time again and again, but eventually died on the way to the invasion. Although it is a few words of an inconspicuous supporting role, it also reveals the gradual defeat of the war, the country and the people are deeply involved in the war and cannot extricate themselves, and the desire to go home for Christmas after the war has long been shattered.
The five men in the war do not know when they will be reunited
Those bridges that make people reflect
Several of the bridges that impressed the author in the film are reflections on war and human nature:
1. Two very young recruits came to the front to report, and the night before they were full of anticipation of the war, but they were scared to pee their pants in the artillery attack the next day. People who have not personally experienced the war always think that the war is bloody and exciting, and that killing the enemy bravely and serving the country is the only goal; but only after experiencing it does it know that it is terrible, that it will really kill people, and that saving a small life is the most important thing.
The war has clearly caused the wear and tear of the country's lean men
2. During a martial law mission, the male brother scolded the Ukrainian auxiliary police for the arrest of a Jewish little girl, at which time an SS officer appeared to break the deadlock, just when the brothers were relieved to think that the officer had saved the little girl, the officer suddenly went behind the little girl and pulled the pistol at the back of her head and pulled the trigger. Afterwards, he wiped the blood from his face and walked away in a square stride. Attentive viewers will find a skull symbol above the brim of the officer's hat, that is, the officer belongs to the most dehumanizing "SS skeleton division" of the German army in World War II, and Stalin ordered that not a single living unit be left.
The SS officer's eerie look
3. Greta was imprisoned for saying to the German officers and men in the tavern: "This battle cannot be won", and in the interrogation room, he also demanded to see her lover officer, who was already another face, saying that he was going to lock up Greta, even though he threatened to have his children, and even went to the cell to ask Greta to testify that he had "helped" the Jews and obtained forgiveness from the Allies. It was only then that Greta realized that she was just an officer's plaything, but it was too late.
It's a war of lies
As we all know, the Nazis came to power in the 1930s to rule Germany, absolutely inseparable from the brainwashing of "success" and those vain promises, which can be summed up as two words "lie". The Germans tasted the sweetness of aggression on the Western Front and began to extend their claws to the east. From the beginning of the first episode the father said to William and Friedheim: "I look forward to what you can do to make us glorious, nothing is more important than a future." In the indifference of his father to him when he returned home from his injury, it can be seen that the idea of the Nazi "long live the Reich" has penetrated into the hearts of everyone, even the Jews who are not at peace: Victor's father, who pursues the idea of being a good citizen who obeys the law, read Hitler's "book" Mein Kampf, and has been confused by Nazi lies. The ending of Victor's parents is not mentioned in the play, but looking at the train to Auschwitz, it is presumable that his parents have already been killed there.
Victor's father, who also had hopes for the Nazis
With the gradual defeat of the German army on the Eastern Front and the declaration of war by the United States on Germany, the discerning people can realize that this is a war that must be lost, and the anti-war sentiment has reached a certain level, and even the assassination of Hitler has broken out. The Nazis, who were already at the end of their crossbows, had reached the level of self-deception in order to maintain their rule, and although the war had been losing, they were still advocating the theory of victory in the war and falsifying the war reports: two sixteen-year-old teenagers met Friedheim on medical leave in a tavern, naively believing the rumor that "the Soviet Union has used its reserve military strength" and hoping to participate in the war impatiently. At the same time, it is engaged in "covering the ears and stealing bells": any negative remarks that "the battle will be lost" are all handled according to the shaking of the hearts of the military, and once it is found that those who spread such ideas are severely punished, the naïve Greta will become a victim in such an environment.
Nazi "literal hell"
War is dark, but human nature is glorious
War raged, and the whole of Europe was shrouded in a cloud of terror, some people were passively fighting to carry out orders, some people were actively resisting, and others were worried about whether they could see the sun of tomorrow, and there was a nervous mood everywhere. War numbs people and becomes cold-blooded, but some of the softest and kindest natures hidden in people's hearts can still bring a little warmth:
1. Not far after Victor was driven out of the guerrillas, he heard a dense burst of gunfire from his hiding place, and looked back to find that his former comrades had all fallen in a pool of blood. He picked up his gun and pointed it at the German soldier in front of him and found it was Friedheim. Friedheim wanted to let him go, but he was anxious to know the current situation of his parents and girlfriend, and refused to leave. After a moment of stalemate, Friedheim chose to shoot, but it was not Victor who fell, but the officers behind him who were preparing to sneak attack.
2, the morphine in the field hospital is constantly found to be lost for no reason, Charlie secretly opened Lilia's luggage and found that she was actually a Jewish doctor, because at this time she still had the determination to "serve the Empire", Charlie reported Lilia to the hospital, although she regretted it afterwards, but she could not prevent Lilia from being taken away. Fast forward to 1945, when the Soviets occupied the field hospital, Charlie did not expect that the Jew, who had been reported by herself, would stand in front of her and reprimand the soldier who tried to commit violence. In the play, Lilia said: "In a few weeks we are about to win the war, so who will build a new Germany with us?" It seems that some of them are aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the people, but most people and the author prefer to believe that she is single-minded and kind, otherwise how can they say "when is the time to repay the wrongs of justice".
Those who are ironic and who did not die with the war
In addition to the revelation and reflection of the war, there is also a profound irony implied in this drama. The war was over and the Nazis fell, but the brainwashed ideas did not go down in history with the Nazis, and prejudice and discrimination against the Jews remained: Victor returned to his former residence after the war, and the German women who occupied it not only did not apologize, but also prevented him from entering, and lied that they had been trying to help Victor's parents. Victor smashed the frame and left with his parents' wedding photos in anger, and the German woman simply said to her child with a look of contempt and disgust: "Look, this is the Jew." ”
There are also some demons who have not been sent to hell and walk in the world in a dignified manner - the Gestapo high-ranking officials mentioned many times in the text, burned their military uniforms, and became puppets of the Allies. In the face of Victor's questioning, he said with a straight face:
"I gave this man a passport so that he could escape from Germany to Marseille"
"Greta?" It's a pity that I tried my best to save her, and even almost lost my family."
"It's good that you survived"
In the face of naked lies, the American captain who was next to him did not say a word, but silently smoked a cigar. It wasn't until Victor turned to leave that the former Gestapo official breathed a sigh of relief.
Conclusion
The titles of each episode are called "A Different Era", "A Different War", and "A Country With a Different Face", which profoundly exposes the distortion of the three views, the destruction of human nature, and the destruction of the homeland by this war of aggression, which is a reflection on the war and an admonition to the people of the world. The author believes that excellent war films do not promote war by describing war, but reflect and oppose war by describing war.