Odd bod that I am I've always enjoyed a good war story and this week's viewing was on the whole pretty good. I also got to watch one of my favourite's so that's a win right there.
Now onto the movies...
The Wooden Horse
Starring: Some Brits
Original release: 1950
Synopsis: The true story of some POWs and their attempt to escape a Nazi prison camp.
Men in prison, plotting their escape. Well you would, wouldn't you.
A true story which makes it even more "Holy F*** they actually dug a tunnel and escaped AND made it back to England alive".
Starring: William Holden and that guy from Mission Impossible
Original release: 1953
Synopsis: When 2 escaping POWs are killed the barracks suspect that the wheeling-dealing black marketeer is an informant for the Germans.
Okay confession time.
I love this movie so much that I've seen it about half a dozen times. It is also responsible for my not so secret crush on William Holden. I was 13. I was probably easily persuaded by his snark and bad boy style.
Still a great movie with action, betrayal, spies and Nazi's - Holden is just a bonus.
Starring: Andrew Garfield
Original release: 2016
Synopsis: A devout man who refuses to kill serves as a medic on the front lines.
Less about religion and more about a man who refused to back down from his beliefs, this is a simple story of a simple man who does something truly brave and who never once thought of himself as a hero.
Starring: Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman
Original release: 2013
Synopsis: A former British Army officer, who was tortured as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him.
Most war movies talk about the bravery and the gore but few look at the after effects that war had on the men who served. This is a harrowing tale of one of those men and it's brutal and honest.
Starring: Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch
Original release: 1956
Synopsis: An English woman returns to Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped her during the war.
Another one of those movies I thought I would like and ended up coming out thinking it was all a meh. partly due to Virginia being a bit too English aloofness which didn't quite work for me.
Starring: Glenn Close and Cate Blanchett
Original release: 1997
Synopsis: A group of women who are imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.
Finding a little joy and sanity in the horrors of war and imprisonment.
Starring: Spencer Tracy and Maxmilian Schell
Original release: 1961
Synopsis: In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes.
It's a long movie. Which can bog down the story at times. And it's kind of talky and wordy and yet it's still an interesting look at what happened after the war and asks many questions, including the one - how much did the German people really know and did they turn a blind eye to what was going on.
Starring: Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds
Original release: 2015
Synopsis: Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
Who knew that Ryan Reynolds could actually do a serious movie and be pretty good in it.
An interesting little known story.
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