a5c7b9f00b Berlin, 1941. Five friends eager to become heroes in an adventure that will change the face of Europe - and that will forever change themwell. Level-headed, highly decorated officer Wilhelm is off to the eastern front with his younger brother Friedhelm, a sensitive dreamer more interested in literature than warfare. Deeply in love with Wilhelm is Charlotte, a young nurse who looks forward to serving in the Wehrmacht, also on the eastern front. While Greta is a talented singer who longs to become another Marlene Dietrich, her Jewish boyfriend Viktor still cannot convince his parents to leave Germany… Valor and courage come to the fore, but also betrayal - of values, beliefs, humanity. Friedhelm turns into a soulless killing machine… Wilhelm deserts his troops and is court-martialed… Charlotte's Nazi ideology crumbles when she betrays a Jewish nurse helping the German army… Greta obtains papers for Viktor's escape by selling herself to an SS colonel. They and millions of others wanted to be heroes; but none of them could imagine what the war would ultimately do to them and to the rest of the world.
Five friends go out to war and promise each other to be back for Christmas.
This movie is Germans trying to come to turns with their horrible horrible past. Mind you, every single collective of people in the world has skeletons in the closet, so kudos for them for at least trying. We are still waiting for the French to reflect on what they did in Haiti, the English in India, the Dutch in Indonesia and the Belgians in the Congo. And so on until every single nation is on the list.<br/><br/>What troubles me is that, to achieve its aims, Generation War throws historical accuracy overboard. Here are five friends in their early twenties (two girls, two brothers who are about to be mobilized to Russia and a Jew who is beginning to realize what's coming his way) in 1941 Berlin. The war has been raging for 2 years and the Final Solution is just around the corner. Over the next 4 years each one will go through an ordeal of their own. The take-home message is that all five of them are essentially moral and kindhearted youngsters who are forced circumstances to perform dubious acts, including downright crimes. The makers somehow insist on pretending that these were actual people who actually existed. The problem is that even if people like them did in fact exist, they are far, very far from being representative of a German in their early 20s living in 1941. None of them is a Nazi fanatic. None of them believes that Slavs are sub-humans, or that Jews are vermin contaminating the purity of the Aryan race. They more or less believe in the Final Victory, halfheartedly, but not with the psychotic fanaticism that had been instilled in most youngsters by that time. The plot could have easily shown this and pin it down on the 8 years of brain-washing conducted by the totalitarian Nazi state. If you read letters of German soldiers in the Russian front you will realize that an immense majority among them actually believed that Russians were simply not humans, it had been "proven" to them "scientifically" by the evil propaganda machinery of Goebbels and Rosenberg. And we are talking about cultured and sophisticated guys here. It was this mindset that allowed them to perpetrate the most horrendous atrocities remorselessly. "We were all behaving like zombies, brainwashed by a criminal gang that hijacked the country". That would have been a more historically accurate way of deflecting blame - if you want to call it that way.<br/><br/>This movie also takes the very cheap shot of putting Ukrainians and Poles on the same footingthe Wehrmacht when it comes to war crimes. Surely there is a long history of anti-semitism in Eastern Europe but all in all those countries took way more than they gave. They themselves were brutalized by Germans. That Ukrainians welcomed themliberators but then reverted to siding with Stalin hints at what happened there. And Poland was barbarized by both Germans and Russians.<br/><br/>Another point of contention. The German treatment of Russian POWs and civilians is unparalleled in its ferocity, probably not since Genghis Khan had the world seen something like it. This issue is carefully dodged in the movie, but it ends up being like trying to hide an elephant in the closet. The couple of times when Russian POWs are depicted they are either idly sitting by or being tended by a German nurse. Again, this is forcing statistics to the breaking point. Perhaps there were a couple of instances where such things happened, but it is so uncommon, so unusual, that it can be squarely considered a total misrepresentation.<br/><br/>Basically that is the approach taken by the script writers here: take the most unusual, exceptional people and facts and lead the viewer to believe that this was the norm. It is a shame and a pity they decided to go that way.<br/><br/>I still give it a thumbs up and recommend viewing for good cinematography, gripping war scenes and overall careful mis-en-scene. Performances are OK without being exceptional. Hopefully there will be more German film-makers willing to pick up where this movie left and set the record straight.
At last a film from the young (and not so young) German perspective. It is refreshing to see that the Germans are dealing with their "Schuldgefuehl" at last.<br/><br/>I lived there from 1974 until 1994 and was amazed by my German peers feeling of guilt for the actions in WW2, when they were not responsible.<br/><br/>It reminds me of seeing the German flags festooning all of the towns during the soccer world cup. A great sight to behold and one long overdue.<br/><br/>mfG<br/><br/>Frank
Generation War holds the line admirably in showing how totalitarianism corrupts almost everything in its path, individual responsibility included, and creates an appalling space where sadists and conformists alike can flourish and break every rule of war at will.
Does anyone know when this incredible mini series will be released on dvd in Ireland?
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