Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Dragon
if you were to make a war movie, what war/events would you have it focus on?
|
Germany '43-'45. Specifically the Kurland Pocket.
Western history has done a lot to demonize the Germans. There is a lot there that Americans/Canadians/British/French people are not aware of.
I always recommend reading "In Deadly Combat" by Bidderman to anyone interested in WW2 history. Every single American I've recommended it to has waked away with a new understanding of WW2 Germany.
The simple fact of the matter is that the average German soldier was no more a "Nazi" than the American was a "Democrat" or the Russian was a "Bolshevik." They were just guys drafted to fight for their country. Most of them were pretty disillusioned of Hitler by '42/'43 with the SS and Hitler Jugend being the major holdouts.
It's really a pretty sad story. Even a lot of the dyed in the wool Nazis had all but been raised to be Nazis. It's really a cautionary tale of just how malleable the human psyche is. To read about the Hitler Youth or how "good Nazis" assumed command after competent commanders had been imprisoned or executed is nothing short of depressing.
However, every movie insists upon portraying every German as a Jew-killing, Hitler-loving war machine.
And I think that is not only a historical travesty, but intellectually dishonest.
The German people really need a fair shake in the collective consciousness.
My second choice would be the Finnish front. A few movies have been made (Talvosota being the most famous,) but none have been big budget. The Finnish front is probably the least known and most interesting front of WW2.
Fun fact:
The first American causality of WW2 was on the Finnish front. An American citizen returned to Finland to defend it and died in the Winter War (I forget his name, though.)