Not to “whatabout…” this scene, but the Danish movie “Land of Mine” was very thought provoking for me in a lot of ways.
It follows German POWs, post WWII, forced to clear mines from the beaches. Their country did indeed place the mines, but these people forced to clear them were not the actual people who placed them, certainly didn’t call for them to be placed there, and the Danish government knew they were not trained in landmine disposal. Many were killed in the process, and the whole practice was against the Geneva Convention. They were promised to be freed after clearing the beach but were then shipped off to other beaches to continue this dangerous work. The film was made at one of the actual beaches, and a real mine was discovered during filming.
I don’t particularly enjoy war movies, but I feel the good ones show us the ways that all our leaders have forced or conned regular people into doing horrible things in the name of their country, but when we look back in hindsight and see it was a damn lie, it still never changes anything. Every country is guilty of it, and photos like the one above or the movie I mention can be good reminders, hopefully before more people get forced into these situations.
Conversely, Joyeux Noël about the WWI Christmas Truce was great, in seeing all sides grasping the pointlessness of the situation they were placed in and uniting as individuals in peace and friendship surrounding their shared values until the leadership on all sides found out what was going on and declared peace was an unacceptable outcome of war and had to stop at once.
Individuals undoubtably are capable of atrocities, but I think it’s very seldom they came up with those ideas on their own, as opposed to cowards far away in a room somewhere forcing others to be their pawns in some pointless game nobody else really wanted to play.
If you can stomach the content, it’s a very powerful film. I highly recommend it. I want to be careful and say it did not make me feel sympathetic to Nazis, but it did make me think about punishment and responsibility and the fine line between justice and revenge.
Not to “whatabout…” this scene, but the Danish movie “Land of Mine” was very thought provoking for me in a lot of ways.
It follows German POWs, post WWII, forced to clear mines from the beaches. Their country did indeed place the mines, but these people forced to clear them were not the actual people who placed them, certainly didn’t call for them to be placed there, and the Danish government knew they were not trained in landmine disposal. Many were killed in the process, and the whole practice was against the Geneva Convention. They were promised to be freed after clearing the beach but were then shipped off to other beaches to continue this dangerous work. The film was made at one of the actual beaches, and a real mine was discovered during filming.
I don’t particularly enjoy war movies, but I feel the good ones show us the ways that all our leaders have forced or conned regular people into doing horrible things in the name of their country, but when we look back in hindsight and see it was a damn lie, it still never changes anything. Every country is guilty of it, and photos like the one above or the movie I mention can be good reminders, hopefully before more people get forced into these situations.
Conversely, Joyeux Noël about the WWI Christmas Truce was great, in seeing all sides grasping the pointlessness of the situation they were placed in and uniting as individuals in peace and friendship surrounding their shared values until the leadership on all sides found out what was going on and declared peace was an unacceptable outcome of war and had to stop at once.
Individuals undoubtably are capable of atrocities, but I think it’s very seldom they came up with those ideas on their own, as opposed to cowards far away in a room somewhere forcing others to be their pawns in some pointless game nobody else really wanted to play.
Pretty amazing pun for the English title though
It works on a couple levels.
If you can stomach the content, it’s a very powerful film. I highly recommend it. I want to be careful and say it did not make me feel sympathetic to Nazis, but it did make me think about punishment and responsibility and the fine line between justice and revenge.