Finally had the chance to watch this French-Belgian-Moroccan co-production, and wasn’t disappointed. The film tells the story of a contingent of North Africans who fight for the liberation of France in the Second World War. The plot and psychological environment is quite interesting as they are quite patriotic for a homeland they have never seen (a scene of them singing the Marseillaise and the Song of the Africans is quite stinging), but are still treated like second-class citizens.
It is very refreshing to watch a WWII movie that doesn’t follow the typical American conventions, that’s for sure, even if I really like Saving Private Ryan.
Today marks 70 years of the beginning of the Winter War, that historical event that is still at the forefront of the Finnish psyche. The good news is that Finland kept its unity and its independence (no mean feat when your adversary is the Soviet Union), the bad news is that it created a siege mentality that survives to this day in certain sectors of society.
For more background information, you can hardly do better than have a look in Helsingin Sanomat’s archive (1, 2, 3).
I was leaving Seattle when I found this gentleman. He had recently come back from a tour of duty in Baghdad and I was so curious I just had to talk with him and get his impressions.
He said that war is hell, but he had to fulfill his duty which doesn’t surprise me. As much as I disagree with the reasons why they are there, I hope that both the soldiers and the people of Iraq can weather the current situation.
I was quite touched since he’s the first person I’ve ever met that is involved in a war, and talking to him he seemed pretty normal guy. I couldn’t help but wonder what would I do if I ever were in a similar situation.
I found out this article at Martín Varsavsky's blog, and found it extremely interesting… and sad. As he says, one side promises virgins, the other citizenship. They all want cannon fodder.
