The Butler, 2013

by Latasha Jackson

Synopsis of Film:

Cecil Gaines witnesses the death of his father at the hands of the plantation owner, who also served as their boss, and he also witnesses his mother’s mental displacement from reality after she is raped by the same man who killed Cecil’s father. The sharecropper’s grandmother took pity on Cecil whose family was destroyed in the matter of a day and turned him into a houseboy.

When Cecil turns old enough, he strikes out on his own, but being a black man under white supremacy, he went hungry and jobless. In the desperation of hunger, Cecil breaks into a cake shop for some food, and he is discovered by Maynard, who is the master servant at a hotel. Maynard teaches Cecil the rules of being a good servant and helps Cecil get a job where he meets his wife, Gloria.

Later, Cecil is hired on at the White House as a butler because his skills were noticed at the hotel. During his time in the White House, Cecil serves Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Reagan. However, while Cecil is trying to be a successful butler, his family begins to fall apart. His lack of attention leads to his wife’s subsequent alcoholism and affair with the neighbor, Howard. Cecil’s son, Louis becomes involved in activism for the rights to equality, and this passion leads to the ongoing dispute between Louis and his father. Cecil’s younger son, Charlie, enlists in the Vietnam War where he dies.

Witnessing all of the racial turmoil from the White House, Cecil begins to understand his son’s fight and even joins him in a protest where they are arrested together. At the end of the film, Cecil’s wife has died, and President Barack Obama has been elected. Cecil goes to meet the new president wearing all of the articles that he was given by the different presidential families. Hearing the voices of all of the presidents that he has served, Cecil enters the oval office to meet President Obama while Obama’s voice speaks his famous slogan “Yes, We Can.”

Historical Context:

Most of The Butler contains historical events, such as presidential decisions, elections, and protests for equality. The film portrays presidents who actually served in the White House. However, the film shows more of the men behind the decisions, and it is unclear whether the personality types portrayed for each president is historically accurate. The decision to enforce the integration of black students at Little Rock Central High School is a truly historical event because it federalized the Arkansas National Guard.[1] It is also historically significant because it is the first time that black civil rights were enforced after the Brown v. Board of Education case.[2]

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that Louis joined in the film is a real organization that fought for black civil rights through peaceful protests and sit-ins.[3] Their protest, The Birmingham Campaign, is the catalyst for Kennedy’s national address about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and both of these events are a part of American history.[4] Also, Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy’s successor, did, in fact, support the rights of blacks in his time in the White House. He upheld Kennedy’s start for civil rights and equality by initiating a series of programs called the “Great Society.”

The film also portrays the Selma to Montgomery marches, which were significant in history because they were a part of the Voting Rights Movement. President Johnson’s subsequent decisions to push for black voting rights are also historically accurate. The Black Panthers, who were also portrayed in the film, were a historically significant group of individuals. The Black Panthers, which was an activist group, played a major role in preventing police brutality and bringing that issue to the forefront in the 60s. [5]

Also, historically important in this film is Obama’s presidential election. He is the first African American president, and his slogan “Yes, We Can” is significant in this context. It portrays the determination for black equality that is illustrated by the numerous protests, sit-ins, and activist movements in the film. Obama’s slogan is particularly important in that moment in the movie because it shows not only Cecil’s success but the success of blacks everywhere. All of the rights that blacks were fighting for were won by the time Obama was elected president. His election to presidency is historically significant because that is the ultimate position to gain because it is the power to lead millions.

Most of this film’s context is historical in nature. There are even events, such as Cecil’s mother being raped and his father being killed, that happened to many African-Americans in history. Thus, they are even historical. However, the major events in the movie such as the presidential decisions and black rights movements and protests are a part of American history. All of the historical events in this film worked together to show the plight of being black during the film’s setting. It shows the racial injustices that were taking place from the top to the bottom in the social system.

Bibliography:

How true is the film?

The film has both reality and fiction throughout. It is based on a true story about a black man named Eugene Allen.[6] Allen’s story was brought to the forefront by an article, “A Butler Well Served by This Election,” in the Washington Post. However, the article focused more so on blacks in the White House and the reactions to them.[7] Although the film is based upon a real person and some real events, there are numerous fictional aspects.

Allen’s childhood as portrayed in the movie is fictional.[8] He grew up in Virginia and served as a waiter at a resort and later a country club.[9] Unlike the film, Allen was not offered the job at the White House; he heard about the job and applied.[10] While Allen did work under the presidents depicted in the film, his position was more glorified for the film, and he actually began working in the White House under President Truman.[11]

The reality is that Allen actually washed dishes, stocked cabinets, and shined silverware as a pantry man until he was granted the position of maitre’d under Ronald Reagan.[12]  Also, Allen’s wife did not struggle with alcoholism or have an affair, and they only had one child who did in fact fight in the Vietnam War.[13] However, he did not die in the war and is still living.[14] Allen’s wife did in fact die right before President Obama’s election into office, but Allen’s visit to see the President in a one on one capacity was fictional.[15] Overall, the film was a mish mash of truths and untruths.[16]

Bibliography:

2008. Haygood, Wil. 2008. “A Butler Well Served by This Election.” Washington Post, 7 November. WashingtonPost. (accessed February 1, 2016).

2010. “Eugene Allen, White House butler for 8 presidents, dies at 80.”Washingtom Post, 2 April 2010. WashingtonPost. (accessed February 1, 2016).

2014. National Park Service. Nine Students Fight for School Integration in Little Rock, Arkansas. n.p.: 2014. Gale Virtual Reference Library, EBSCOhost (accessed February 1, 2016).

2015. “Black Panther Party.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCOhost. (accessed February 2, 2016).

2015. “Southern Christian Leadership Conference.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCOhost. (accessed February 2, 2016).

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUA7rr0bOcc

[1] Service, National Park. 2014. Nine Students Fight for School Integration in Little Rock,

Arkansas. n.p.: 2014. Gale Virtual Reference Library, EBSCOhost (accessed February 1, 2016).

[2] Ibid.

[3] 2015. “Southern Christian Leadership Conference.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCOhost. (accessed February 2, 2016).

[4] Ibid.

[5] 2015. “Black Panther Party.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCOhost. (accessed February 2, 2016).

[6] Haygood, Wil. 2008. “A Butler Well Served by This Election.” Washington Post, 7 November. WashingtonPost. (accessed February 1, 2016).

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Haygood, Wil . 2010. “Eugene Allen, White House butler for 8 presidents, dies at 80.” Washingtom Post, 2 April. WashingtonPost. (accessed February 1, 2016).

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid.

The Boiler Room, 2000

by Latasha Jackson

Synopsis of Film:

Seth Davis, the son of a New York City federal judge, runs an illegal casino out of his home after dropping out of college. His main focus is to be successful in hopes of winning the approval and love of his father, Marty. Constantly berated by his father, Seth begins to question his lucrative casino business. So when a friend, Adam, come to visit with a work associate, Greg who drives a new, yellow Ferrari, Seth is introduced to the lavish lifestyle of stock brokers.

Being offered the opportunity to grasp a position that might bring him attention and praise from his father, Seth jumps into the job head first. However, the job is not what it truly seems. On the job, Seth attracts the attention of Greg’s ex-girlfriend, Abbie, and thus begins the rivalry between Seth and his team leader.

As the film progresses, Seth begins to notice small inconsistencies within the firm. Seth then hatches a plan to not only cooperate with the FBI to take down the firm but also to make some money both for himself and one of his clients, who has lost his family and money doing business with Seth. After being disowned by his father for working at the immoral firm, Seth tries to rectify his mistakes and realizes that his casino was the more respectable job even though it did not meet his father’s expectations.

Historical Context:

In the 1980s and early 1990s, news articles started to expose stock scams performed in what were called boiler rooms. The J.T. Marlin office in the film actually portrays how a boiler room may have actually looked. The phrase boiler room refers to a place where a bunch of stock brokers make phone calls to unsuspecting, naive people to sell stock. The brokers use any means necessary to make the deal, but the deals are not beneficial to the clients. The brokers sell stocks that are not worth much for much more than the actual cost to make a bigger return without allowing the client to know this information.

In his news article about a veteran salesman who was involved in one of these scams, Ross Laver exposes the utilization of boiler room tactics in a real firm, Marchment and McKay.[1] Laver explains how the firm was accused of using high-handed tactics to make a stock market sale to unsuspicious clients.[2] Norman Frydrych, a veteran salesman at the firm, testifies against the firm because his registration bid to join another stock brokerage firm was denied by the Ontario Securities Commission, helping to expose the wrong-doing at Marchment and McKay.[3]

Although The Boiler Room is not based upon this particular story from the news, the way in which Marchment and McKay worked is very similar to the way in which J.T.Marlin handles business in the film. Both firms call random people to try to make a sell in any way necessary, have the more experienced workers to make more sales, use their own shares as the principal, and use stocks that crash almost immediately after being sold.

The film also pays homage to an incident in August of 1999 where the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) became strict on boiler room operations. Charles Lunan, Tom Lowry, and Thomas S. Miulligan all write about how the SEC reacted in August of ’99 to the immoral tactics used by stock brokers.[4] The SEC set new regulatory rules on how stocks could be handled. During this time, the SEC began to take civil action against several firms that were utilizing the boiler room tactics to crack down on the sale of questionable stocks to innocent and unsuspecting clients. [5]

The film also clearly bears a resemblance to the 1987 film Wall Street and the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross.[6]  Both films portray stock brokers who do what they feel that they have to do to make a sale and be as financially successful as possible without considering the consequences or the morality of their actions. Jeff Strickler wrote in his Star Tribune news article that The Boiler Room was a “distillation” of the previous two films.[7] Strickler describes how The Boiler Room is almost like a tribute to the films in that the characters in the film have a session where they seem to praise the film by quoting verbatim the speech about doing whatever is necessary to make a sale.[8] Younger’s film praises the “eat or be eaten” philosophy that seems to be the main requirement in Wall Street. [9]

How true is the film?

The film is based on interviews conducted by the film’s writer, Ben Younger. Thus, the film is not necessarily based upon one particular real event but a culmination of different truths. The fact that boiler rooms existed is one of the main truths in the film, and the way in which the stock brokers in the film seemed to use any tactic possible to make a stock exchange also is a reality. However, it is unclear if the particular tactics, such as calling the clients names and pretending to go into an office while really sitting under a desk, were used by real stock brokers.

Because the film does quote and show clips of the film Wall Street, that aspect is a truth in that it shows two films that were released in the United States. The one real fact that is clear is that the film is not based on a particular event or person. The film writer seemed to take his own experiences and his research throughout the year that he investigated boiler rooms come to life.

Bibliography:

Laver, Ross. 1997. “Tales from the boiler room: a veteran salesman blows the whistle on the high-pressure penny-stock business.” Maclean’s, 1997. 36. Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed January 20, 2016).

Lunan, Charles. 1990. “STATE ACTS TO CLOSE FIVE FIRMS PENNY-STOCK DEALERS ACCUSED OF BOILER-ROOM TACTICS; REGULATORY ACTION.” Sun-Sentinel, August 31. NewsBank – Archives, EBSCOhost (accessed January 23, 2016).

Mulligan, Thomas S. 1999. “SEC Turns Up the Pressure on Boiler Rooms; Securities: Regulators boast of battles won but admit the war on stock fraud is far from over as both sides hone high-tech tactics.” Los Angeles Times, August 05. NewsBank – Archives, EBSCOhost (accessed January 23, 2016).

Strickler, Jeff. 2000. “Stock offering; `Boiler Room’ offers an energetic but wildly uneven look at greed on Wall Street.” Star Tribune, 2000: 33. General OneFile. (accessed January 20, 2016.

Tom, Lowry. 1999. “Stock hustlers creep out of boiler rooms and onto Internet.” USA TODAY, August 23. NewsBank – Archives, EBSCOhost (accessed February 2, 2016).

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPamKNqonwU

[1] Laver, Ross. 1997. “Tales from the boiler room: a veteran salesman blows the whistle on the high-pressure penny-stock business.” Maclean’s, 1997. 36. Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed January 20, 2016).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] See Lunan, Charles. 1990. “STATE ACTS TO CLOSE FIVE FIRMS PENNY-STOCK DEALERS ACCUSED OF BOILER-ROOM TACTICS; REGULATORY ACTION.” Sun-Sentinel, August 31. NewsBank – Archives, EBSCOhost (accessed January 23, 2016); Mulligan, Thomas S. 1999. “SEC Turns Up the Pressure on Boiler Rooms; Securities: Regulators boast of battles won but admit the war on stock fraud is far from over as both sides hone high-tech tactics.” Los Angeles Times, August 05. NewsBank – Archives, EBSCOhost (accessed January 23, 2016); Tom, Lowry. 1999. “Stock hustlers creep out of boiler rooms and onto Internet.” USA TODAY, August 23. NewsBank – Archives, EBSCOhost (accessed February 2, 2016).

[5] Ibid.

[6] Strickler, Jeff. 2000. “Stock offering; `Boiler Room’ offers an energetic but wildly uneven look at greed on Wall Street.” Star Tribune, 2000: 33. General OneFile. (accessed January 20, 2016.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

The Deer Hunter, 1978

by Edward Deaton

Synopsis of Film:

The Deer Hunter is set in the late 1960’s and focuses on a group of blue-collar friends who are coming of age in the tight-knit and industrial community of Clairton, Pennsylvania. The year is 1968 and the Vietnam War is in full swing and several men in the community soon find themselves joining the conflict overseas. The principle characters include Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Steven (John Savage). All of these men will eventually become soldiers and witness more than a few wartime atrocities. Michael, Nick, and Steven all have somewhat different wartime experiences. Yet, tragedy is something they all have in common. For those fortune enough to survive the war, they soon discover another battle waiting at home. Coping and normalizing their lives in the aftermath of the war becomes their most troubling battle. It is a battle fought not only by the returning soldiers, but also their families and their community.  Linda (Meryl Streep) experiences a great deal of this anguish as she realizes that one of the men she deeply cared for may never return to Clairton. A true human drama, The Deer Hunter takes an intimate look at a small community torn by war.

Historical Context:

Many important developments concerning the Vietnam War occurred during 1968. For example, the Tet Offensive was launched during that year and was considered one of the foremost battles of the Vietnam War. Also, the bombing campaign known as Operation Rolling Thunder continued on North Vietnam throughout most of that year. Moreover, Richard Nixon won the presidential election and inherited the Vietnam War in 1968[i].  However, none of these events are mentioned during The Deer Hunter. It is fair to say that the film is not exactly attentive to the historical backdrop of the era. Likewise, the film is not concerned with an explanation of any complex political, economic, or cultural issues surrounding the Vietnam War. The scope of the The Deer Hunter is best described as revolving around human drama and the notion that war completely debases communities and people.

The Deer Hunter was groundbreaking in many ways, but it certainly did not attempt to tackle the intricacies of the Vietnam War. In fact, the film only contains a few fleeting scenes that are historically noteworthy. One brief scene depicting The Fall of Saigon is easily the most accurate scene of the entire three-hour-long movie. Also, the movie plot is a bit confusing due to the fact The Fall of Saigon happened during 1975 and the story beings in 1968[ii]. Essentially, there is a seven year gap in the movie that is never adequately explained.
At any rate, during the Fall of Saigon scene the audience witnesses throngs of frantic refugees desperately trying to climb a wrought iron fence in front of the U.S Embassy in Saigon. People are shouting and soldiers who sit atop the gates look stunned and sometimes push back on the overflowing crowd. Generally, the film scene depicting The Fall of Saigon effectively captured the actual chaos, confusion, and panic of the incident.[iii] People were actually terrified of reprisals from the North Vietnamese, and rightfully so. Many who did not escape from Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) were sent to “re-education camps” or general labor camps. Others desperately scrambled to less than seaworthy vessels and drowned. These people collectively became known as the “boat people”.[iv] The Fall of Saigon also created mass emigration and scattered Vietnamese refugees all over the globe. According to the census taken in 2010, around 1.8 million people of Vietnamese decent currently reside in The United States. This accounts for about a half of all overseas Vietnamese (sometimes called Việt Kiều) that fled during the Fall of Saigon[v].  Yet, the movie does not really tackle the issue of the aftermath of The Fall of Saigon. Be that as it may, The Deer Hunter’s representation of the U.S Embassy being overrun is accurate when compared to witness accounts and photographs from that day. The Pulitzer Prize winning Photojournalist Peter Arnett has taken quite a few fantastic photographs that show the actual events the film is trying to capture[vi]. However, outside of that one fleeting scene, very little knowledge can be gained from watching the film about the multifaceted politics of the day or the refugee crises that ensued after The Fall of Saigon in 1975.

In all fairness to the creators of the film, The Deer Hunter was probably never intended to be a proper history lesson. The film deserves credit for opening up a national conversation about the real aftermath of the Vietnam War and for showing how the war destroyed communities. However, some scenes in the film are purely imagined and have little factual basis. This becomes abundantly clear with the scenes depicting POWs being forced to play Russian roulette by Viet Cong captors. These scenes are probably best described as ahistorical due to the fact no evidence exists to corroborate them[vii]. Also, the portrayal of American victimhood in these scenes are somewhat one-sided. Additionally, the depictions of the North Vietnamese as brutal savages may have been a bit myopic on the part of the filmmakers. Of course, wartime brutalization does actually occur amongst the chaos and stress that war creates. Death, killing, and sometimes torture are unfortunate byproducts of war. Several cases have been documented on both sides, including an American incident at My Lai where troops mascaraed an entire village of people including women, children, and old men.[viii] Yet, in the context of the entire war this incident was largely isolated.

Other historical references in the movie include a momentary mention of the U.S.S Hancock. Just try not to blink or you might miss it. During the final act of the film a reporter is seen on a television giving a live interview aboard the U.S.S Hancock. This is historically significant because it is well documented that the U.S.S Hancock (and others) were indeed part of Operation Frequent Wind in the South China Sea[ix]. Additionally, The Sacred Willow is a great book and resource for learning about the Vietnamese as a culture.  Moreover, this book is relevant to The Deer Hunter because in contains a picture showing the author’s father and niece aboard the U.S.S Hancock during Operation Frequent Wind, which is referenced during the film[x].

Another brief scene from The Deer Hunter shows helicopters being pushed into the South China Sea in an attempt to make room for more refugees. Photojournalist have documented these accounts well and it is certainly confirmed that this actually happened the way the film shows. In fact, The Deer Hunter may have used actual footage for that (brief) scene. Just as the film used actual Vietnam War footage for one of the helicopter drop-off scenes. At any rate, one of the more famous photojournalist who captured these moments on film is perhaps Tony Arnett. Arnett’s photographs speak volumes about the incident of The Fall of Saigon. Arnett even won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the Vietnam War and has recently published a book titled, Saigon Has Fallen. Inside the book are several photographs of helicopters being pushed off of various ships and also pictures of frantic refugees climbing over the fence at the U.S Embassy in Saigon exactly as The Deer Hunter film portrays it.[xi]

The Deer Hunter remains an excellent drama that creates a gut-wrenching statement about the realities of war. The film deserves some credit for opening up a national conversation about the real aftermath of the Vietnam War. Also, subsequent films of this genre borrow from the precedent that The Deer Hunter established. The director of the film, Michael Cimino, certainly blazed an untraversed trail in film by pushing the envelope with provocative themes and topics. Not to mention, Cimino took a risk even making The Deer Hunter because Vietnam was not a popular film topic in 1978. Overall, the film has enjoyed enormous popularity and went on to win five academy awards in 1978. It has even been recognized by the Library of Congress and was preserved in the National Film Registry for being, “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” [xii]
Historical Truth:

The Deer Hunter is an outstanding drama but lacks a significant factual basis. The vast majority of the film is fictitious with only a few momentary mentions of true-life events. Probably the most historically accurate moment in the film was a transitory scene depicting refugees crowding around the U.S Embassy in Saigon during the 1975 Fall of Saigon. That scene depicted accurately the pandemonium of the Fall of Saigon and the events that took place in front of the U.S Embassy can be also be corroborated with first-hand accounts and especially photographs[xiii]. Also, a brief mention of the U.S.S Hancock and some allusions to Operation Frequent Wind could be considered accurate. Yet, these moments in the film are few and far between and the crux of the film deals with the notion that war damages communities and people more than anything else.

Generally speaking, the majority of the film builds on emotions that American’s were probably still trying to cope with in 1978 about the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Human suffering, grief, and disillusionment were just a few of the themes in the movie that the American public knew all too well. The final scene, which takes place after a funeral for a soldier, shows what is left of the group of friends all dressed in black and half-heartedly singing “God Bless America”. That scene became a very powerful symbol of disillusionment and grief and certainly resonated with viewers in 1978 (and today). The Deer Hunter certainly breathed life into these emotions and the viewers were no doubt moved by it. The film is genuinely gripping and touches on some very tough issues concerning war and the trauma it creates. As a whole, the film draws on more visceral elements of filmmaking and focuses less on covering the facts and complexities of the war. Nevertheless, The Deer Hunter remains a classic film and continues to be enormously popular. Overall, The Deer Hunter has a lot of deep symbolism and is truly worth watching despite any historical inaccuracies.

 

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw-Tyr6Rb6I

Peter Arnett Photographs relevant to film:

[i] Baron, Robert C., and Samuel Scinta. 1996. “1960-1970 THE UNSETTLED DECADE: 1968 A YEAR OF VIOLENCE.” Millennium 2000 — 20Th Century America: Key Events In History 89-90. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed January 24, 2016).
[ii] Olson, James Stuart, and Roberts, Randy W.. Where the Domino Fell : America and Vietnam 1945-2010 (6th Edition). Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[iii] Olson, James Stuart, and Roberts, Randy W.. Where the Domino Fell : America and Vietnam 1945-2010 (6th Edition). Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[iv] Espiritu, Yen Le. Body Counts. Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[v] Espiritu, Yen Le. Body Counts. Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2014. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[vi] Arnett, Peter. Saigon Has Fallen. New York: Rosetta Press, 2015
[vii] Olson, James Stuart, and Roberts, Randy W.. Where the Domino Fell : America and Vietnam 1945-2010 (6th Edition). Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[viii] Botkin, Richard. Ride the Thunder : A Vietnam War Story of Honor and Triumph. New York, NY, USA: WND Books, 2009. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary. CH. 13
[ix] Olson, James Stuart, and Roberts, Randy W.. Where the Domino Fell : America and Vietnam 1945-2010 (6th Edition). Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[x] Elliott, Duong Van Mai. The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.PG 268
[xi] Arnett, Peter. Saigon Has Fallen. New York: Rosetta Press, 2015.
[xii] http://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/descriptions-and-essays/
[xiii] Arnett, Peter. Saigon Has Fallen. New York: Rosetta Press, 2015.

All Quiet on the Western Front, 1979

by Edward Deaton

Synopsis of Film:
All Quite on The Western Front (1979) recounts the horrific events of the First World War from the prospective of a German boy named Paul Bäumer (Richard Thomas). Paul is barely out of high school and would prefer to be drawing or writing poetry rather than fighting in a war. Nevertheless, Paul and his schoolmates have been assured by their schoolteacher (and others) that it is their duty as the “iron youth” of Germany to take up arms and fight to defend the honor of their fatherland. With their chests full of patriotism, the enthusiastic young men march off to the battlefield to defend their country. Regrettably, the boys have yet to learn the realities of warfare and soon find themselves in a world of suffering and grief.  Their patriotism and pride soon wane as they are exposed to daily machinegun fire, chemical weapons, artillery shelling, and life in the pestilent trenches. A truly gripping story, All Quite on The Western Front gives an unflinching depiction of the futility of war and symbolizes the fate of a generation shot down in the flower of their youth.

Historical Context:

                Erich Maria Remarque, the author of the original 1929 novel All Quite on The Western Front, was himself a veteran in the First World War. Moreover, Remarque fought on the western front for Germany as a young man. He was eventually injured by shrapnel and transferred to a nearby hospital where he remained until the end of the war. Eight years after the end of World War One, All Quite on the Western front was published in Germany. The following year (1930) Lewis Milestone would create the first film adaptation of the novel. Milestone eventually won Academy Awards for best film and director for his film and it was, and continues to be, very popular.[i] Likewise, Remarque’s novel became increasingly prevalent the world over and attracted the attention of a wide spectrum of people. Including a man named Joseph Goebbels (Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany), who was not exactly thrilled about the overall message of the novel. In fact, during the Nazi era (1933-1945) Remarque’s novel was banned (and burned) in Germany and denounced as, “a literary betrayal of the soldiers of the World War.”[ii] Yet, despite Nazi efforts to destroy the book, it has continued to enjoy enormous popularity (as so have the films). The 1979 film version of All Quite on The Western Front (originally released as a T.V series) also won a Golden Globe in 1980 for Best Motion Picture Made for Television and a Prime Time Emmy Award.[iii] As a whole, the film does a great job of breathing life into the novel and putting into action Remarque’s words.

All Quite on The Western Front (1979) gives a stirring depiction of what warfare was like in the early twentieth century. With advancements in technology, the First World War ushered in a completely new era of warfare. Tanks, airplanes, machine guns, and various chemical agents created a theatre of war that had never been seen before. Compared to earlier wars, The First World War was futuristic and chilling in its capacity to produce causalities. All Quite on The Western Front (1979) gives the audience a glimpse into what that type of warfare looked like. The movie makes several references to how the stagnant style of trench warfare was fought. The film also exposes the miserable living conditions that soldiers endured. Moreover, the movie’s representation of the horrors of new weaponry is uncanny. Overall, the film deserves credit for an accurate portrayal of warfare during this era.
The representation of chemical warfare makes an appearance in one or two scenes from All Quite on The Western Front (1979). During these scenes the audience watches a young German solider choke on poisonous gas while the surrounding soldiers, all wearing gasmasks, debate whether or not to “euthanize” him out of mercy. During the film, Paul Bäumer refers to the gas as, “the most feared and obscene weapon of all.” He goes on to say that he remembers the gas patients in the hospital who, “suffocated” and “coughed up their burnt lungs in clots”[iv]. Generally speaking, there is evidence to corroborate the films portrayal. For example, a British news cable to The New York Times once stated that many soldiers lacked an understanding of the “new danger” and “were overcome by the fumes and died poisoned.” The cable goes on to say that many who escaped “cough and spit blood” and the dead “were turned black at once”.[v]

Many prominent German scientists, including Fritz Haber and Walther Nernst, made significant contributions to the advancement of this new theatre of warfare. Both Nernst and Haber won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work (Nernst in 1920 and Haber in 1918)[vi]. Fritz Haber has even been called “the father of chemical warfare” for his contributions for developing chlorine and several other poisonous gases into weapons used during World War One.[vii] Altogether, gas was indeed prevalent during this era and would have been commonplace during combat. The film All Quite on The Western Front (1979), although a fictional movie, accurately reflects the reality of chemical warfare during this period.

Another scene depicting realism from Quite on The Western Front (1979) displays soldiers baiting rats with rotten pieces of bread. Shortly after the soldiers have lured the rats into the open, they kill the rats with shovels. This was indeed a part of life in the trenches and soldiers used many methods to kill the pests. Often times terriers were used to kill the rats and many photographs exist that show soldiers posing alongside piles of rats with their dogs.[viii]  Furthermore, a soldier during the film is shown reaching underneath his shirt and picking lice off of his body. He then throws the lice into a hot pan and remarks, “You see the way he blows up?”[ix] These scenes accurately capture the realities of what life was life in the miserable trenches. Often the trenches were muddy, invested with rats and lice, and altogether filthy. The film does a good job of depicting the living conditions that the average solider would have had to endure. Author Gordon Kerr effectively captures the reality of this type of warfare when he wrote, “Rats fed on the dead bodies that lay in the trenches and soldiers often became infested with lice.”[x]

Perhaps it is worth mentioning the underlying enthusiasm depicted by the soldiers in the beginning of the movie. Some have called the initial patriotic enthusiasm Germans’ felt during August of 1914 as “The Spirt of 1914.” The concept being that most Germans felt great enthusiasm for the war effort and several displays of patriotism (parades, singing anthems etc.) ensued. Willhelm the II famously stated that the war would bear a resemblance to “lunch in Paris, dinner in St.Petersburg.”[xi] Many soldiers shared this sentiment and felt that they could win the war and possibly be back home for Christmas. During the film the soldiers are seen marching off to the recruiting posts singing a popular patriotic German anthem (at least a similar version) of“Die Wacht am Rhein“(The Watch on The Rhine). Historically, this song was used during the Franco-Prussian War to express the idea that Germany was keeping a watchful eye on their borders from French invasion. The anthem was also widely used during the First World War to boost morale and patriotism.[xii] On the whole, this was a nice detail added in by the filmmakers of All Quite on The Western Front (1979) to give the film a touch of historical authenticity.

Although, some historians have suggested the feelings amongst Germans during this time was a bit more complex, and that “The Spirit of 1914” was somewhat overly broad as a concept. Yet, it can be confirmed that the patriotism displayed during the film All Quite on The Western Front (1979) represents at least some those events and attitudes accurately. In fact, during the first month of World War One Germany resembled a “month-long patriotic festival” in which Germans said good-bye to their departing soldiers and ,“smothered them with flowers and so much chocolate that the Red Cross asked the population to be less generous; the soldiers were getting sick.”[xiii]

How true is this film?

The film All Quite on The Western Front (1979) is best described as fictionalized. However, it has strong connections to events from World War One that possess a factual basis. In that sense, the film is historically noteworthy on many levels. Many of the depictions in the film accurately reflect early twentieth century warfare and various attitudes towards the war at different stages. Namely, the film gives a good representation of the initial patriotism and the subsequent disillusionment felt by many Germans after the First World War. Furthermore, it accurately brings to the attention of the audience the atrocities that soldiers from the First World War would have typically endured.
Some details in the film pay great attention to historical accuracy. The depictions of Willhelm II during the film never shows his left arm move. This would have been accurate due to the fact that Willhelm II had a withered left arm from a trauma he endured during birth. Most of Willhelm’s life was spent trying to conceal his deformity which he felt signified weakness. Many photographs show Willhelm II posing his crippled arm atop the hilt of a sword or on other occasions using a cane. His left arm was around six inches shorter than his right arm and some have speculated that this deformity contributed to emotional stress and his overall unstable character.[xiv]
Moreover, the depictions of German attitudes towards the war in the film can be corroborated with fact. There was indeed a powerful sense of patriotism and pride during the early part of the war for many Germans. This zeal was followed by a subsequent feeling of disillusionment. For example, Herbert Sulzbach offers an interesting real-life case study of a German soldier fighting on the Western Front that reflects similar attitudes. Similar to Paul, Sulzbach spent four years on the Western Front and kept a detailed daily diary during his service. Many of his diary entries (published in the book With The German Guns: Four Years on The Western Front) effectively capture these changing attitudes throughout the war. For example, Sulzbach wrote (Saturday, 1 August at 6:30 pm) the following: “Try as I may I simply can’t convey the splendid spirit and wild enthusiasm that has come over all of us.”[xv] Furthermore, Sulzbach mentions (on August 8^th 1914) that “many of my school friends are in the same artillery battalion.”[xvi]
These diary entries pair nicely with the story plot of All Quite on The Western Front (1979) and corroborate a factual basis for the film. Sulzbach, similarly to the fictional Paul Bäumer, enlisted with his school friends and was initially enthusiastic about the prospect of fighting for his fatherland. Regrettably, Sulzbach’s final diary entry (December 4^th, 1918) stated that as he turned in his uniform after Germany’s defeat he felt as if he was, “walking to my own funeral.”[xvii]
During the final scene of the movie, Paul Bäumer can be seen writing a letter to his school friend Albert. Paul is covered in mud and smoking a cigarette. His image is the epitome of a broken man at this point in the film. The voiceover states, “Out of The class of 1916, out of the twenty who enlisted, thirteen are dead, four are missing, and one is in a madhouse. You and I live. How I miss you.”[xviii] Shortly after this scene Paul is shot and killed.
In conclusion, while the movie is classified as fiction it represents some very real concepts of The First World War. Including depictions of twentieth century warfare, politics, life in the trenches, and various attitudes from soldiers on the Western Front. Overall, the movie bears an uncanny resemblance to real events and is historically noteworthy on many levels.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1PW2n8POg

[i] Löschnigg, Martin, and Sokolowska-Paryz, Marzena, eds. The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film. Berlin/Boston, DE: De Gruyter, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.

[ii] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005852

[iii] Löschnigg, Martin, and Sokolowska-Paryz, Marzena, eds. The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film. Berlin/Boston, DE: De Gruyter, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[iv] All Quite On The Western Front. Dir. Delbert Mann. Perf. Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine. 1979. DVD.
[v] Faith, Thomas I.. Behind the Gas Mask : The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace. Urbana, IL, USA: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[vi] Faith, Thomas I.. Behind the Gas Mask : The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace. Urbana, IL, USA: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[vii] Faith, Thomas I.. Behind the Gas Mask : The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace. Urbana, IL, USA: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[viii] Kerr, Gordon. Short History of the First World War : Land, Sea and Air, 1914-1918. Harpenden, GBR: Pocket Essentials, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[ix] All Quite On The Western Front. Dir. Delbert Mann. Perf. Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine. 1979. DVD.
[x] Kerr, Gordon. Short History of the First World War : Land, Sea and Air, 1914-1918. Harpenden, GBR: Pocket Essentials, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[xi] Kerr, Gordon. Short History of the First World War : Land, Sea and Air, 1914-1918. Harpenden, GBR: Pocket Essentials, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2016. ProQuest ebrary

[xii] Verhey, Jeffrey. Spirit of 1914 : Militarism, Myth and Mobilization in Germany. Port Chester, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Accessed January 31, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[xiii] Verhey, Jeffrey. Spirit of 1914 : Militarism, Myth and Mobilization in Germany. Port Chester, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Accessed January 31, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.
[xiv] Mombauer, Annika, and Wilhelm Deist. The Kaiser: New Research on Wilhelm II’s Role in Imperial Germany. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
[xv] Sulzbach, Herbert. With The German Guns: Four Years on the Western Front, 1914-1918. Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2003. PG 22
[xvi] Sulzbach, Herbert. With The German Guns: Four Years on the Western Front, 1914-1918. Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2003. PG 23
[xvii] Sulzbach, Herbert. With The German Guns: Four Years on the Western Front, 1914-1918. Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2003. PG 22
[xviii] All Quite On The Western Front. Dir. Delbert Mann. Perf. Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine. 1979. DVD.

The Crucible, 1996

by Tiffani Hagan

 

Synopsis of Film

The film begins with girls in Salem Village having strange fits after a night dancing in the woods. The townspeople begin to believe that a witch has cursed the children, and the servant Tituba is automatically accused, with two other women getting accused soon after. The girls, including the love stricken Abigail Williams, latch on to the idea that Tituba is the witch, despite knowing it is false. Abigail becomes a ring leader as the girls begin to accuse and frame more people within the village for witchcraft. The trouble increases when Judge Danforth begins to put people on trial for witchcraft and execute those who do not confess. Abigail soon takes an even more evil approach, when she accuses her ex-lover, John Proctor, and his wife of witchcraft.^[i]

Historical Context

Witch trials were not an uncommon occurrence in Europe and sometimes even in the American colonies, though in America, they were much fewer and more far-between than those that occurred in Europe. There was a massive “great age of witch hunts” that “spanned roughly from 1400 to 1775” and led to “at least fifty thousand people [being] sentenced to death.”^[ii] Specifically, in the American colonies, only one large outburst of accusations and trials occurred– the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The Massachusetts Bay Colony, prior to the period of the Salem Witch Trials, was a strongly Puritan society, centered around devout families, small villages, and agricultural economies.^[iii] The colony was going through a massive number of hardships. Before the trials occurred, the village had seen a complete change in colonial leadership with the abandonment of the original charter, disastrous frontier wars against Native Americans around Maine, and conflicts between Salem Town and Salem Village over the right to have a separate church.^[iv]

 

These conflicts reached a boiling point in Salem Village when Abigail Williams and Betty Parris began to have strange fits in the Reverend Parris’ household. No one could explain what was happening to them, so the instant response of the villagers was to believe that witchcraft was among them. The girls, agreeing wholeheartedly to the idea of witchcraft, began by accusing Tituba, their house slave, of cursing them. The accusations began to spread as more of the lower class citizens of Salem Village began to be accused by both the Parris children and other children within the village.  The town went into an uproar as more and more began to be accused. Soon, a panel of judges, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, was formed to deal with those accused.^[v] Tituba was the first to confess to the crime in order for her life to be spared, and some of those accused followed her lead and confessed to save their lives as well. Many, however, were too religiously devout or prideful to confess. As the accusations grew in strength, they also gained more power as more influential people in the community began to be accused, including John Proctor, Giles Corey, and many other influential citizens of Salem.^[vi] As the Court of Oyer and Terminer began to put those accused on trial, many were found guilty and sentenced to hang. In total, nineteen of those who were accused in Salem were hanged^[vii]. On top of that Giles Corey, an influential man in Salem who refused to testify, was stoned to death. Many were still left in the jails at the end of 1692 because their trials had not yet occurred, or they were waiting to hang for different reasons, such as Elizabeth Proctor waiting on the birth of her child. The trials quickly began to deteriorate at the beginning of 1693. Soon after, the Court of Oyer and Terminer was disbanded, and then reassembled to carry out the trials of the over 150 accused that were still left in prison. Of those, none were hanged because evidence could not be proved. The witch craze was over.

 

How True is this Film?

When Arthur Miller began to write The Crucible, he attempted to stay very true to the original trials his play was based on. However, with a work of fiction, even more notably a work of drama, certain aspects need to exist to keep the crowd entertained and eager to enjoy the show. Arthur Miller, with this thought in mind, took the original stories of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and added a certain twist to them to make them more interesting as they were brought to life on the stage. At the beginning of the published version of his play, Miller included a small section titled “A Note on the Historical Accuracy of the Play.” This note listed many of the inaccuracies within the story, including the difference in Abigail’s age (she was only 11, not 17), the loss of many of the judges in the story (only two were included), and the loss in the amount of girls who accused.^[viii] Also, Arthur Miller included many of his own ideas and opinions into the play, because he was using his piece to show his ideas on the Communist scares he was living in during the time. He used this piece as a metaphor to compare the “red scare” he was living in to the “witch scare” that occurred in 1692.⁹

 

Bibliography

Baker, Emerson W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

“Dimensions of Change in Colonial New England.” Digital History. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3581

Miller, Arthur. “A Note on the Historical Accuracy of This Play.” Preface. The Crucible. New York: n.p., 1995. N. pag. Print.

Miller, Arthur. “Why I Wrote The Crucible: An Artist’s Answer to Politics.”The New Yorker (New York), October 21, 1996. Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.plosin.com/beatbegins/archive/MillerCrucible.htm.

“The Salem Witch Scare.” Digital History. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2.

 

 

Link To Movie Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUIAxTxrnCc

 

 

^[i] The Crucible.Film.Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Los Angeles: Twentieth Century Fox, 1996.

^[ii] Baker, Emerson W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

^[iii] “Dimensions of Change in Colonial New England.” Digital History. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3581

^[iv] “The Salem Witch Scare.” Digital History. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2.

^[v] Baker, Emerson W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

^[vi]  Baker, Emerson W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

^[vii]  “The Salem Witch Scare.” Digital History. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2.

^[viii] Miller, Arthur. “A Note on the Historical Accuracy of This Play.” Preface. The Crucible. New York: n.p., 1995. N. pag. Print.

9 Miller, Arthur. “Why I Wrote The Crucible: An Artist’s Answer to Politics.”The New Yorker (New York), October 21, 1996. Accessed January 29, 2016.

The Killing Fields, 1984

 

By Alexis Hinton Furman

Synopsis:

The Killing Fields follows two journalists, Dith Pran, a Cambodian interpreter and journalist, and Sydney Schanberg, an American reporter sent to cover the internal conflict in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  As a result of the Vietnam War spilling over the borders into Cambodia, internal conflict transpires and a civil war has broken out there.  When the Phnom Penh embassies are evacuated, Pran is arrested and forced to live under the totalitarian regime of the Khmer Rouge.  Throughout the film, Schanberg continues searching for Pran in refugee camps and never gives up.  He receives awards for his work but feels extremely guilt because Pran is nowhere to be found.  The film shows the mass executions, work camps, and mind washing the Cambodian people in order to start at “Year Zero.”

Analysis:

As a result of the Vietnam War, and the war against the communist forces of North Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge formed among the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia.  Its main leader was Pol Pot and its main goal was to completely and entirely reform the agricultural and rural society.  The Khmer Rouge was widely known as, the “Cambodian genocide.”  In this “purification process,” Pol Pot called for the purging of any type of intellectual, including students, journalists, doctors, politicians and any other peoples who might cause problems with the socialist regime.[i]

Before Pran is taken by the regime, he and Schanberg do extensive coverage of the war in Cambodia and the horrific violence among the people.  Eventually all the embassies are evacuated and Pran is taken back by the Khmer Rouge because he is Cambodian, and Sydney leaves for the United States.  Sydney continues to contact refugee camps in search of Pran who is forced into labor camps where many of the killings took place.

Schanberg wons the Pulitzer prize for his work in Cambodia with Pran even though Pran’s location and very existence is still unknown.   Pran manages to escape miraculously and hides his intelligence in order to remain alive. Their friendship managed to remain strong despite Pran’s hardships and having to fight for his life.  When Sydney finally learns of Pran’s arrival at a refuge camp in Thailand, he leaves the U.S. in order to find Pran and bring him back to his family.[ii]

In regards to the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, about 1.5 million Cambodians out of 7 million died of starvation, execution, overwork or disease.[iii]  The state controlled all aspects of all Cambodian citizens’ lives as it evacuated people from their homes, procured all of their possessions and put them in mass agricultural camps.  Any type of private life, including religion, and any material goods were completely illegal and grounds for execution if caught.  Children were turned into child soldiers and were exploited and brain washed into obeying the Khmer Rouge’s laws and military enforcement.

The regime finally ended in 1997 and Pol Pot died in 1998, and unfortunately very few Khmer Rouge leaders have been convicted of crimes against humanity.

How true is The Killing Fields?

This film has a great deal of validity and accuracy to it.  It is very refreshing compared to most historical films, which ignore many of the large aspects of history when recreating an event.  The film does get a little bit confusing at times as to who is fighting whom because without any background information, all that is given in the film are a few short clips of news coverage on televisions scattered throughout the film.  The relationship between Pran and Schanberg is very much accurate and even though it does portray Schanberg as the “white savior,” their friendship is still very real, and Pran is still able to save himself in the end.

The film is more a work of history than a work of cinema art as described by Susan Jhirad: “The Killing Fields is less a work of art and more a door opening onto some twenty years of continual human suffering, a suffering we should never forget, since it began with U.S. bombs falling on this green and beautiful country.”[iv]  While this quote is obviously one sided, it can still be argued that this film is an accurate portrayal of the real events despite a few minor flaws.  What is also one of the most interesting aspects of the film is that the actor who portrays Dith Pran, Haing S. Ngor also survived life under the Khmer Rouge.

Bibliography

Chandler, David P.. 1986. “The Killing Fields” and Perceptions of Cambodian History”. Review of “the Killing Fields.”; the Killing Fields: The Facts Behind the Film.; the Killing Fields.; the Death and Life of Dith Pran. Pacific Affairs 59 (1). Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia: 92–97. doi:10.2307/2759005.

Hannum, Hurst.  “International Law and Cambodian Genocide: The Sounds of Silence.”  Human Rights Quarterly (1989): The Johns Hopkins University Press : 82–138. doi:10.2307/761936. 

History.com. “Pol Pot.” Last Modified 2009.  http://www.history.com/topics/pol-pot.

imdb.com. “The Killing Fields.” Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087553/?ref_=nv_sr_3.

Jhirad, Susan. 1985. Cinéaste 14 (1). Cineaste Publishers, Inc: 50–51. http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/41686456.

 

Moise, Edwin E.. 1999. Pacific Historical Review 68 (1). University of California Press: 132–33. doi:10.2307/3641895.

 

 

 

 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z1sj7gzpCk

 

 

[i] Hurst Hannum, “International Law and Cambodian Genocide: The Sounds of Silence,” Human Rights Quarterly, The Johns Hopkins University Press (1989): 11, accessed January 29, 2016. doi:10.2307/761936.

[ii] The Munchies, “Journalism, History, and Hollywood,” November 26, 2011, http://thekillingfieldsteamfive.blogspot.com/p/comparing-to-history.html.

[iii] “Pol Pot,” History.com, last modified 2009, http://www.history.com/topics/pol-pot.

[iv] Susan Jhirad, Cinéaste 14 (1), 51.

Cold Mountain, 2003

by Shay Hardin

Synopsis:

A wounded, disillusioned Confederate soldier, Inman miraculously survives injuries received fighting in a bloody battle during the Civil War. The bleak prospect of returning to battle inspires him to flee the hospital and set out on a perilous journey back home to his beloved Ada. Ada, a cultured outsider to Cold Mountain, is battling to survive after the death of her father leaves her destitute on the farm. Ruby, a sassy, knowledgeable and self-sufficient farmer arrives to help, whereupon they return the farm to working order, thwarting starvation. Inman makes his way back home to Ada and they take shelter in an abandoned hut, where they consummate their love and plan their future. The Home Guard, aware of Inman’s arrival, confronts the women the next morning. Shots ring out, summoning Inman to their rescue and Inman sustains a fatal gunshot wound by one of the deputies and dies in Ada’s arms, a scene that is reminiscent of an earlier premonition by Ada. The epilogue finds Ada, nine years later on the farm, raising a child with Ruby and her family. Ada has come to love Cold Mountain as her home, just as Inman had.

Historical Context:

The time is the mid-1860’s, the waning days of the Civil War, and one of the most transformational periods of American history. The movie, although derived from literary fiction, constructs authentic narratives about the soldiers and events of the American Civil War and its history in the southern Appalachians.  The main character, W. P. Inman, is based on the Civil War service of William P. Inman, Twenty-fifth North Carolina Infantry Regiment (Peuser). He deserted and returned to the war, pardoned for his offenses. He then participated in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia which is where the movie Cold Mountain begins.

The siege of Petersburg, an especially horrific battle that took place in July 1864, depicted in the opening scenes of Cold Mountain, is said to be “one of the best historical evocations of Civil War combat ever put on film” (Thompson). “Northern soldiers are laying explosives under Confederate defenses.” (Minghella). Federal troops dug a “510-foot mine shaft within three weeks” and packed it with 8,000 pounds of highly explosive gunpowder. The resulting explosion sent “clods of earth weighing at least a ton, and cannon, and human forms, and gun-carriages shooting upward in a fountain of horror” (The Crater). The resulting explosion left “a crater 130 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep, killing 352 Confederates.” (The Crater) Union troops rushed the crater, clamored up the steep embankment, and became trapped in the muddy chaos below. The crater crowded with Union forces, and Confederate soldiers fired into it, killing nearly 6,000 men (McPherson 196).

By 1863, “the war had taken its toll on the spirits of most Confederate soldiers and they began to question the bloodshed” (Franch 5). “From 1861 to 1865, around 23,000 North Carolina soldiers deserted” (Franch 1). Like Inman, many soldiers were driven to enlist by a concept of nationality that was based on a duty to protect one’s home and loved ones. Absent was a sense of duty and loyalty to the Confederate government. The South’s default on its promise to take care of soldier’s families led to more Confederate desertion, as a scarcity of goods led to suppliers inflating prices, propelling families to near starvation (Franch 8). Much of the role of tending supplies and feeding the hungry was left to the women, as domestic confusion abounded and the war drastically transformed the demographics of towns.

Women played a large role in holding down the homestead while the men were in service. They were expected to exhibit “self-sacrifice and patient suffering just as their Revolutionary foremothers had done” (Kelly). The advent of war led to an absence of men, resulting in an unbalanced male demographic, leading to nontraditional courtships and swift marriages. Husbands wrote letters to their wives back home, instructing them on how to care for things, asserting that women were not capable of properly caring for the farm or surviving on their own. Isaac Lefevers wrote to his wife in April of 1862, “I want you to have as mutch plowing done as you can but not plant now till I come home or rite again. I don’t want you to do it [plowing] yourself for it is too hard for you to do it”(Kelly).

Women assumed new assertive roles and became highly adaptive and resilient to the new working environment they had inherited. Expectations about feminine frailty and dependence were discarded. Shortages of food, clothing, and medicine were common. “The lack of salt led many women to gather up the dirt from curing barns in order to salvage what they could. These scarcities led to high costs and inflation” (Kelly). In the film, Ada’s femininity is intact and she is on the verge of starvation before Ruby arrived to help her regain the harvest productivity of the farm. Ruby filled the gap of the absent man; she plowed fields, built fences and tended anything that needed to be taken care of on the farm. Under a constant threat from both Confederate and Federal raiders, women often endured rape, or the threat thereof, and physical harm as they struggled to maintain civility and order in the world around them.

As the war raged on and deserters attempted to return home, loyalties were tested. Bipartisan conflicts arose quickly and pitted neighbor against neighbor. The mountains were a known hideaway for runaway slaves and wartime deserters. As a result, Confederate “home guards,” or local militias, were created. They represented the “assumed authority of the army whose crimes are justified in the name of war” (Bradshaw). First formed in the South, their duties consisted as “guardians of property and slaves while the owners were away, rail lines, mail routes, scouts or serving as escorts who knew the terrain” (Bradshaw). With the passage of the Conscription Act of 1862, they were charged with the collection of Confederate deserters and draft dodgers. While most home guards were not like the ruthless tyrant portrayed by Teague in the movie, “killing people indiscriminately and torturing women,” there were a few home guard units that did gain notoriety due to their path of destruction when they set out on raids of town supplies, homes and the reported mistreatment of prisoners of war (Thompson).

The film does not depict the considerable Union sentiment in western North Carolina, nor how the authorities “preyed violently on those deemed insufficiently loyal to the South,” which was cause for continued bitter conflicts even after the war (Thompson). Teague, the leader of the home guard in the movie Cold Mountain, was based on an historical character referred to “the notorious Haywood County Home Guard killer” (Stokes 107). Teague was a “cunning sadist” drunk with power as he turned a game of hide and seek into a brutal and deadly sport. “The soldiers and home guards discovered that while they often could not find the deserters, they could usually find their families and could always find their homes and lands” (Paludan 75). The home guard was a constant threat to Inman and other deserters or outliers throughout the film, culminating in the death of both Inman and all of Teague’s men.

Cold Mountain is a film depicting a historic narrative of the sectional conflict of the Civil War, a love story, and a visual tale of two parallel odysseys; those of Ada Monroe and W.P. Inman. It gives a fictional, yet illuminating idea and multidimensional perspective on the historic impact the war had on the lives of those living in the South, particularly the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

How true is the film?

Although some creative liberties were taken, the movie does portray some level of historical accuracy in part due to extensive research by the novel’s author, Charles Frazier. Told from a Confederate point of view, it conveys the often untold sympathetic views of Southerners whose lives are deeply affected by the war, which is usually hidden by the more popular demonized portrayal of Southerners due to their stance on slavery. The film veers from its authenticity when it completely avoids the topic of slavery, almost eliminating it entirely. This leads to a pretty large distortion of portraying the racial make-up of the population, seeing as all of the townspeople of Cold Mountain are white (Thompson).With that being said, I feel that it was necessary to ignore the issue of slavery in order for the film to maintain its sense of innocence. Also, the film was not about slavery, therefore it rightly did not serve as the focus.

One aspect I find to be inaccurate, and is supported by other historians, is the portrayal of Ada as a poor, farm worker toiling in the fields and performing manly work, yet she always appears “made up” and dainty with clean fingernails and coiffed hair (Thompson). However, many cosmetic and external aspects of the film maintain some, if not a strong sense, of historical accuracy; from the beautiful landscapes to the realistic 19^th century costumes and Confederate weaponry, both extensively researched and consulted on with historians for the highest level of authenticity for the film. The film does a great job at capturing both the large picture of the horrors of the war, but it also reminds people that within this large picture lie the details of people, places and things. The movie attempts to accurately document history by weaving the ravages of war with fictional friendships and unbridled romance.

Bibliography:

Cold Mountain. Directed by Anthony Minghella. (Burbank: Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2003). DVD.

Franch, Daniel, and Wade Dudley. “Desertion in the Confederate Army: A Disease That Crippled Dixie.” Explorations 9 (2014): 1-9. Accessed January 18, 2016.

Kelly, Donna E. “North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial.” North Carolina Civil War Death Study. 2016. Accessed January 29, 2016.

McPherson, James M., and James K. Hogue. Ordeal By Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction. London: Mcgraw Hill Higher Education, 2009.

Paludan, Phillip Shaw. Victims: A True Story of the Civil War. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1981. Accessed January 28, 2016.

Peuser, Richard W., and Trevor K. Plante. “Cold Mountain’s Inman: Fact Versus Fiction.” Prologue Magazine, 2004. Accessed January 30, 2016.

Stokes, Melvyn. American History through Hollywood Film: From the Revolution to the 1960s. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

“The Crater.” Civil War Trust. 2014. Accessed January 18, 2016.

Thompson, Bob. “Cold Facts about `Cold Mountain'” Tribune Digital-Chicago Tribune. January 01, 2004. Accessed January 29, 2016.

Link to Movie Trailer:

Cold Mountain

Schindler’s List, 1993

  by Sidney Jones
Synopsis

Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on novel, Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally, portrays a story of a man named Oskar Schindler, a German businessman  who is credited with  saving over 1,200 Jewish lives during the Holocaust. The title of the film refers to a list that Schindler kept of all the names of the Jews he hired to work in his factory and saved from concentration camps. The film not only depicts the story of Schindler removing Jews from concentration camps in order to work for him, but it also depicts Schindler’s change in morality. While Schindler initially hires Jews as a form of smart business in order to receive cheap labor, the film expresses that Schindler develops a caring for his workers, and the film’s plot develops around that sentiment. [i]

Historical Context

In January 1933, the Nazis that came into power in Germany believed that Germans were the superior race. As Nazi ideals and tyranny spread across Europe, Germans persecuted and murdered millions of Jews.¹ The term “Holocaust” refers to the systematic persecution that Nazis used in an attempt to erase those racially inferior to themselves.² Adolf Hitler, a man whose negative ideas about Jews set the tone for other Nazi Germans, hated Jews. He believed Jews to be corrupt, and he blamed them for the majority of the world’s problems, including the recent German loss of World War I. German forces  not only targeted Jews, but they also victimized thousands of political opponents, religious dissidents, and others who did not fit the Nazi norms.³ In order to rapidly[ii]spread hatred among other Nazis and Nazi supporters, Hitler made use of anti-Jew propaganda in the media. Hitler was very successful in his campaign against Jews, and his views that Jews were inferior and on the same level as animals prevailed throughout Germany and Eastern Europe.⁴

The Nazis’ plan to ethnically cleanse Eastern Europe of Jews, referred to as the “Final Solution,” was implemented in stages. As the Nazis gained more political power in Germany, state-enforced racism developed, resulting in anti-Jewish legislation and the removal of Jews from Germany and into occupied territories in Poland.⁵ Ghettos were established, and Jews were transported into them, often killing many Jews through mobile firing squads or gas vans along the way. However, in January 1942, Nazis began deporting entire Jewish communities in ghettos to extermination camps. The extermination camps developed in occupied Polish territory were Chelmno, B[iii]elzec, Sobibor, Trelinka, Aushwitz-[iv]Birkenau, and Majdanek; these concentration camps were designed solely for the purpose of exterminating Jews at a larger scale than a firing squad could ever achieve.⁶ The Final Solution resulted in the death of over six million Jews, accounting for over two-thirds of European Jews of the time. This atrocious act of terrorism sets the scene for Schindler’s List.

Oskar Schindler was born in the city of Svitavy, Sudetenland, which is now a part of the Czech Republic. Following suit of other non-Jews during Adolf Hitler’s reign, Schindler joined local pro-Nazi organizations and was arrested for spying in 1938; however, he was released shortly after. Upon his release, Schindler began looking for business opportunities, and he bought a former Jewish enamelware factory in Krakow and began producing goods for profit.⁷ The factory was renamed Deu[v]tsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, and as a way to receive cheap labor, Schindler hired Jewish workers living in the ghetto. Upon the liquidation of the Krakow Jewish ghetto, Schindler opened a branch near the premises of the Plaszow concentration camp.⁸

In 1944, exterminating Jews increased throughout Eastern Europe. Because of this, a strategy to move factories was essential in order for production to continue. Although Oskar Schindler did convince German authorities that his factory was important and it was essential that he had trained workers employed, Marcel Goldberg compiled one of several lists of 1,200 Jews that were not to be transported to extermination camps and were ultimately saved from extermination.⁹

How True is this Film?

While there is no question that Oskar Schindler was appalled by the mistreatment of the Jews, his involvement in the rescuing of 1,200 Jews was exaggerated in the film. Schindler did not work with Itzhak Stern in order to recall as many names as possible to add to the list.¹⁰

The scene that the majority of critics claim to be the most dramatized and fictionalized in the film is the June 8, 1942 roundup of Plac Zgody. While the film depicts Schindler as a bystander watching from above on a hill with his mistress, historian David Crowe claims this scene was entirely created for theatrical purposes. Regardless if Schindler w[vi]as on Lasota Hill or not during the roundup, it would have been impossible for him to see the ghetto from that viewpoint. While in reality, Oskar Schindler helped Jews because he believed what the Germans were doing was wrong, the film uses this scene to display Schindler’s transformation from a businessman exploiting Jews for cheap labor to a man who is compassionate and wishes to liberate his workers from the horrible fate that lies ahead of them.^1[vii]

While the film is criticized for not being entirely historically accurate and exaggerating Schindler’s involvement in the transport lists, this film serves as a commemoration of the efforts of all of those who did work to seek liberation for the Jews. In addition, although the film also receives criticism for only portraying one story of the Holocaust, it does demonstrate the ideas, mentality, and the actions of Nazis at the time. The brutality of the eye-opening ethnic cleansing that occur in this film exemplify how deeply rooted the hatred for Jews were among Nazi Germans. While the film does focus on a narrow aspect of the Holocaust, it serves as a representation of the harsh treatment and inhumane treatment that occurred during the Holocaust at a larger scale.

Works Cited

 

 

Anderson, Stuart. Forbes. March 19, 2014. Accessed January 31, 2016.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2014/03/19/oskar
schindler-the-untold-story-3/#2db5e97b2c08.

 

 

“Oskar Schindler Biography.” Bio.com. Accessed January 30, 2016.
http://www.biography.com/people/oskar-schindler.

 

 

Crowe, David. Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities,
and the True Story behind the List. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2004.

 

 

“Holocaust | Basic Questions about the Holocaust.” Holocaust | Basic Questions
about the Holocaust. Accessed January 29, 2016.
http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/40-questions-40-answers/basic
questions-about-the-holocaust.html.

 

 

Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg’s Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler’s List.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.

 

“Schindler’s Factory in Krakow .” Schindler’s Factory in Krakow. Accessed January
28, 2016. http://www.krakow-info.com/schindler.htm.

 

 

“The “Final Solution”” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Accessed January
30, 2016. http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en
/article.php?ModuleId=10007704.

 

 

“Introduction to the Holocaust.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2015.
Accessed January 30, 2016.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143.

 

 

Link to trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwfIf1WMhgc

 

 

1. “Introduction to the Holocaust.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2015. Accessed January 30, 2016. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143.
2. “Holocaust | Basic Questions about the Holocaust.” Holocaust | Basic Questions about the Holocaust. Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/40-questions-40-answers/basic-questions-about-the-holocaust.html.
3. “Introduction to the Holocaust.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 2015. Accessed January 30, 2016. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143.
   4. Ibid.
4. “The “Final Solution”” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Accessed January 30, 2016. http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007704.

 

6. Ibid.

 

7. “Oskar Schindler Biography.” Bio.com. Accessed January 30, 2016. http://www.biography.com/people/oskar-schindler.
8. “Schindler’s Factory in Krakow .” Schindler’s Factory in Krakow. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://www.krakow-info.com/schindler.htm.
9. Anderson, Stuart. Forbes. March 19, 2014. Accessed January 31, 2016. http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2014/03/19/oskar-schindler-the-untold-story-3/#2db5e97b2c08.

10 Loshitzky, Yosefa. Spielberg’s Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler’s List. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.

11. Crowe, David. Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story behind the List. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2004.

The Revenant, 2015

by Hannah Ramey

Synopsis of Film: 

The 2015 film, The Revenant, taken from the 2002 Michael Punke novel, is inspired by the events that take place in the life of Hugh Glass. Glass and his son, Hawk, set out with a group of fur trappers hunting in the frontier of the Louisiana Purchase. Glass goes ahead of the group to scout for any danger, and in the process, is gravely mauled by a grizzly bear. Once the group catches up, Captain Henry, the commander of what is left of the fur trappers, decides that the entire group cannot risk carrying the injured Glass the rest of the way back, and pays John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger to stay behind with Glass and Hawk until Glass dies and can be given a proper burial. Fitzgerald attempts to murder Glass, but ends up fatally stabbing Hawk. In a panic, Fitzgerald has Bridger help him to bury Glass alive in a shallow grave, before they escape to Fort Kiowa. Glass eventually regains consciousness and begins his crawl to Fort Kiowa to seek revenge for the death of his son.

 

Historical Context:

Hugh Glass is one of the great legends of the American West. However, much of his story is just that: a legend. Even though Glass was literate and could write, he did not leave behind any written records of his adventures, so much of his later life was left to oral history. In his early life, it is said that he was captured by the Pawnee tribe and held captive for several years. There is much debate on the legitimacy of this time, but it is suggested that he married a Pawnee woman. He then became a fur trapper that joined a group led by Captain William Henry Ashley. In May of 1823, the group was attacked by the Arikara tribe, and Glass was shot in the leg.¹

Because of his injuries, the team decided to continue on a different path that would make it easier for Glass and the other injured men. However, seemingly undeterred by his injuries, Glass went ahead of the group to scout for any dangers or awaiting tribe. While alone, he came across a grizzly bear and her two cubs. In an effort to defend himself, he shot at the bear, but with only a one shot, low power weapon at his disposal, the bear was almost entirely unaffected. He was severely mauled by the bear before his men caught up to then kill the bear. Because of the severity of his injuries, the party was worried that they would be attacked by a nearby tribe if they remained in the area while he healed, and the party’s leaders decided that leaving him behind with John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger was the best solution. John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger were paid $40 each (about 2-3 months worth of pay) to stay behind with Glass, give him a proper burial, and then catch up with the group. Fitzgerald became frustrated with the length of time that it was taking for Glass to die, so he pressured Bridger to help him bury

________________________

¹  Soodalter, Ron. “Hugh Glass, the True Story of “The Revenant”.” American Cowboy, January 2016.

the now unconscious Glass and go on their way, but not before taking his rifle, knife and all other salvageable items.²

Miraculously, Glass regained consciousness, and began to crawl out of his shallow grave with a broken leg, a sliced throat and deep cuts on his back. He crawled to a nearby spring, set his broken leg, and fashioned a raft that he would use to float down the Cheyenne River to Fort Kiowa, nearly 200 miles away. He ate mostly roots and berries, but at one point, he came across a herd of bison. One bison calf had been attacked by wolves, and Glass managed to scream at the wolves for long enough that they fled. Knowing that the bison liver would be hearty in nutrients, he ate it raw.³

His entire journey lasted about six to seven weeks. Upon arriving at Fort Kiowa, he was notified that his company of men had been relocated to Fort Henry. He decided to take some time to heal at Fort Kiowa before continuing on his journey. Glass arrived at Fort Kiowa on New Year’s Eve, during the middle of the party that his men were hosting. Fitzgerald had been said to have joined the Army, and because that meant that he was now a federal employee, he was entirely untouchable. Bridger, however, remained at Fort Henry. Glass forgave the young man, as he realized that his decision to abandon Glass was because of the pressure put on him by his elder, Fitzgerald.⁴

At this point, there is a lot of speculation as to why Glass chose to forgive Fitzgerald. Most agree that the exhaustion from the journey left him too tired for revenge. Glass eventually died as a result of being scalped by the Arikara tribe some ten years after his bear attack.⁵

How true is this film?

While the film was based loosely on historical fact, the legend of Hugh Glass was greatly embellished on in the film. First, Hugh Glass did not have the interracial family that the films suggests. There is some speculation as to if Glass ever married a Pawnee woman, but he never had any children.⁶  Second, the violent bear attack scene that ended in Glass killing the bear was embellishment as well. Glass’ men eventually took down the

_______________________

²Harrod, Horatia. Best served cold: the terrifying true story behind The Revenant. January 9, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-revenant/leonardo-dicaprio-hugh-glass-true-story/ (accessed January 21, 2016).

³Soodalter, “Hugh Glass, the True Story of “The Revenant”.”

⁴Soodalter, “Hugh Glass, the True Story of “The Revenant”.”

⁵Soodalter, “Hugh Glass, the True Story of “The Revenant”.”

⁶Vultaggio, Maria. ‘The Revenant’ True Story: Fact vs. Fiction About Hugh Glass In Leonardo DiCaprio-Tom Hardy Movie. January 8, 2016.http://www.ibtimes.com/revenant-true-story-fact-vs-fiction-about-hugh-glass-leonardo-dicaprio-tom-hardy-2255772 (accessed January 21, 2016).

 

bear, as Glass was far too injured to continue the fight.⁷ Thirdly, Glass never slept inside of his horse, as the film shows, that story came from another Western legend about a young boy who was captured by Omaha Indians.⁸ Fourthly, the entire encounter with Hikuc, the Pawnee man who shares the raw bison with Glass and nurses him back to health, was that of fiction as well. Glass spent his entire journey alone, and somehow managed to regain enough of his health on his own.⁹ Fifthly, the search for Powaqa and the constant chase led by the Arikara tribe, was never detailed in any account. In fact, there is no mention of a chief’s daughter named Powaqa that could be found. Subsequently, the encounter with the French group that was holding Powaqa was another liberty taken by the filmmaker.¹⁰ Lastly, all of the scenes following Glass’ return to his camp, including the death of the Captain and Fitzgerald, are not accurate. When Glass returned to his camp, he chose to forgive those that had wronged him, however, since the movie changed the narrative to being a story of revenge for his son, it was a rightful conclusion.¹¹

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

__________________________

⁷Jerome, Irwin. Bastardized History: the True Odyssey of Hugh Glass vs. “The Revenant”. January 20, 2016. http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/20/bastardized-history-the-true-odyssey-of-hugh-glass-vs-the-revenant/ (accessed January 21, 2016).

⁸ Hawksley, Rupert. ‘Raw bison liver is good to eat’: Ray Mears fact-checks The Revenant. January 16, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-revenant/ray-mears-bison-liver-facts-truth/ (accessed January 21, 2016).

⁹ Vultaggio, ‘The Revenant’ True Story: Fact vs. Fiction About Hugh Glass In Leonardo DiCaprio-Tom Hardy Movie.

¹⁰Jerome, Bastardized History: the True Odyssey of Hugh Glass vs. “The Revenant”.

¹¹Vultaggio, ‘The Revenant’ True Story: Fact vs. Fiction About Hugh Glass In Leonardo DiCaprio-Tom Hardy Movie.

Bibliography

Harrod, Horatia. Best served cold: the terrifying true story behind The Revenant. January 9, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-revenant/leonardo-dicaprio-hugh-glass-true-story/(accessed January 21, 2016).

Hawksley, Rupert. ‘Raw bison liver is good to eat’: Ray Mears fact-checks The Revenant. January 16, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-revenant/ray-mears-bison-liver-facts-truth/(accessed January 21, 2016).

Jerome, Irwin. Bastardized History: the True Odyssey of Hugh Glass vs. “The Revenant”. January 20, 2016. http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/20/bastardized-history-the-true-odyssey-of-hugh-glass-vs-the-revenant/ (accessed January 21, 2016).

Punke, Michael. The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge. New York City: Carroll & Graf, 2002.

Soodalter, Ron. “Hugh Glass, the True Story of “The Revenant”.” American Cowboy, January 2016.

Tunzelmann, Alex von. How historically acurate is The Revenant? January 20, 2016. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/20/reel-history-the-revenant-leonardo-dicaprio (accessed January 21, 2016).

Vultaggio, Maria. ‘The Revenant’ True Story: Fact vs. Fiction About Hugh Glass In Leonardo DiCaprio-Tom Hardy Movie. January 8, 2016. http://www.ibtimes.com/revenant-true-story-fact-vs-fiction-about-hugh-glass-leonardo-dicaprio-tom-hardy-2255772 (accessed January 21, 2016).

Wikipedia. Hugh Glass. January 21, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Glass (accessed January 21, 2016).

–. The Revenant (2015 film). January 21, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revenant_(2015_film) (accessed January 21, 2016).

 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoebZZ8K5N0

 

The Godfather, Part II, 1974

By Ryne Welch

Film Synopsis:

  

The Godfather II is a critically acclaimed film that follows two parallel stories. The first is set in various places from Nevada to Cuba in the 1950’s, and picks up at the end of the first film with Michael Corleone. As the new Don of the Corleone crime family, Michael struggles to protect his family’s business as he tightens his grip on the crime underworld. The second narrative goes back to the 1920’s. Following Michael’s father Vito Corleone, the narrative tracks his journey as an immigrant to America, eventually founding his family’s crime enterprise in New York City.

The film opens with a young Vito who escapes his hometown after a mafia boss murders his father. Making the journey to America, he manages to work his way up in the crime underworld. Some of his opportunities are merely chance; however, many of his accomplishments are a result of his ruthless drive to move up in society. As he gains power, people start to recognize his authority, leading to the eventual foundation of his family’s crime syndicate.

Michael’s story is a whirlwind of betrayals, murder, and various other unlawful activities as he struggles in his role as Don of the Corleone family. As Don, he becomes incredibly paranoid of outside threats. He also has the immense task of balancing the relations with the other crime families.  Ultimately, his web of illegal activity catches up to him, and he faces jail time. Through intimidation and family loyalty, Michael manages to avoid any conviction. In a calculated frenzy, Michael has his enemies and his friends who betrayed him brutally killed as revenge for his troubles. The film closes with Michael alone on the lake, weighed down by the loss of his family he has endured as the Don of a crime syndicate.

Historical Context:

Many Italian Americans made the trip to America in the early 20^th century. Known as the great arrival, southern Italians funneled through Ellis Island in the millions. The forces that contributed to such a mass migration can be traced to divided political factions of Italy, contributing to violence and social strife. This legacy of violence led to wave of the poor Italian farmers looking to find better fortune in America. Many of the people who made the trip were single men looking to send money back home to their families. It was common for these ,men to return home after making money. However, those who stayed would eventually come to make up more than 10 percent of the American foreign-born population.[i]

Italian immigrants who arrived in America banded together with other Italians throughout New York.  These villages were a result of the Italian spirit of campanilismo, or loyalty to those who live within the sound of the village church bells.[ii] Life in these pockets was often cramped. Disease was rampant, and those who found work worked in dangerous factory conditions. Italian Americans also faced scrutiny and racism, a result of the nativism trend in America, resisting immigrants of all kind.[iii]

The Italian connection to the Mafia gang life started back in their homeland of Sicily, an Island ruled by foreign powers. In order to protect themselves, many Italians would band together to form their own justice system. These mafiosos would eventually grow to become private armies called Mafie. These groups would eventually become the crime organizations that are known as the Mafia.[iv] This tradition of Mafia life would stay with immigrants as they crossed the ocean into America in the early 20^th century.

The American mafia, a completely separate entity from their Italian counterparts, arose from the successes of the Italian immigrants running bootleg liquor during the prohibition era. This led to the Mafia’s rapid branching to various outlets of the criminal underworld. The mafia had a hand in loan sharking, prostitution, labor union control, legitimate industries, and even control of pubic officials. The mafia was a powerful force in America throughout the 20^th century until the 1980’s, when the American government cracked down on their activities. Even though they saw a drastic decrease in their power, the American mafia still persists today, having a hand in business around the United States.[v]

In The Godfather part II, Michael Corleone goes to Cuba on a mission to discover who was responsible for the assassination attempt on his life. While he is there, he gets caught up in the early aspects of the Cuban Revolution. Historically, the Cuban Revolution took place on July 26, 1953, in which Fidel Castro united a rebel force against the dictator of Cuba. They landed in Cuba, starting a guerilla campaign against the Cuba dictator. In 1959, a successful offensive led to the Cuban rebels emerging victorious, allowing for Fidel Castro to take over as leader of Cuba.[vi]

Historical Accuracy:

Vito Corleone’s immigration narrative that runs parallel to the main story line of The Godfather part II is a mostly accurate portrayal of the lives of Italian immigrants. Vito Corleone made the journey across the ocean because his family was in danger from the mafia gangs in Italy. Most of the Italians who came over seas did so because of the dangerous unrest in homeland. For the most part, the lifestyle for Italian immigrants in America much like what was seen in the film. The tight, poor living conditions would have been common for most immigrants in New York. There is also a clear sense of the campanilismo, as the groups of Italians stick together to form their own mini town within New York. The only thing that potentially strays from the historical truth was Vito’s inevitable fall to the crime life. It wouldn’t be fair to assume that many Italians went to the crime life, as most worked respectable careers in factories. Many also served in the military, and Italian activism brought about many of the labor unions that would come to improve deplorable factory conditions in New York. The positive trends far outweighed the ones that fell to the criminal underworld.[vii]

 The Godfather part II came out during the 1970’s resurgence of Italian gangster films. Across the whole genre, Italian mafias always emphasize the importance of family bonds as a lifestyle. For Italians, family went beyond blood, as neighbors and business relations were equally important, and Italians emphasized family and community bonds through the campanilismo. Throughout the film, Michael’s bonds with this friends and family are abundantly clear. The eventual betrayal from many in his family is detrimental to Corleone, because loyalty to the family is tantamount. Michael Corleone’s greatest tragedy in The Godfather films is the eventual loss of his family as his enterprise expands. For Italians, this would be a terrible loss. This represents a very accurate aspect of Italian culture, as the Italian gangster was tied to his family immensely, because his family was an integral part of their criminal organization. Through a fictional story, the Corleone family represents an accurate portrayal of the Italian lifestyle.[viii]

 

Violence is another common theme throughout the films, as the various mafia groups often brutally murder to accomplish their goals. Almost every account of the mafia organizations supports the reality of violence. Throughout the height of their power, there were 5 major Italian family groups in New York City. Some of the record of their exploits is terrifyingly similar to what is seen from The Godfather part II. For example, the Colombo family underwent three internal wars, power struggles that resulted in the deaths of several members. Another family, the Lucchese family, ordered a series of murders of those suspected of disloyalty. It’s clear that violence surrounded the mafia families wherever they went. [ix] The true brilliance of The Godfather films is that they depict a fictional story with a fictional family, yet depict the true interworking’s of the notorious Italian American mafia better than any documentary. In that sense, The Godfather part 2 is a raw snapshot of the reality of Italians who came over seas as immigrants, as well as those whom joined the various Mafia families.

Works Cited:

Dibeltulo, Silvia. “Family, Gang and Ethnicity in Italian-themed Hollywood Gangster Films.” Film International 12, no. 4 (December 2014): 25-43. Accessed January 29, 2016. One Search.

“The Five New York Mafia Families.” The Telegraph, April 13, 2011. Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8447929/The-five-New-York-mafia-families.html.

“Italian – A Century in the Spotlight – Immigration.” Library of Congress. Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian9.html.

“Origins of the Mafia.” History.com. Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.history.com/topics/origins-of-the-mafia.

Sanchez, Rebecca, Elissa Curtis, and Rachelle Klapheke. “Remembering the Cuban Revolution.” Msnbc.com. 2015. Accessed January 29, 2016. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/remembering-fidel-castro-and-the-cuban-revolution#slide1.

Film Trailer:

 

[i] “Italian – A Century in the Spotlight – Immigration”

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

[iv] “Origins of the Mafia”

[v] ibid

[vi] Rebecca Sanchez, “Remembering the Cuban Revolution”

[vii] “Italian – A Century in the Spotlight – Immigration”

[viii] Silvia Dibeltulo, “Family, Gang and Ethnicity in Italian-themed Hollywood Gangster Films,” 33-34.

[ix] “The Five New York Mafia Families”