Oh, What a Lovely War film review

Oh, what a lovely war by Richard Attenborough is set on a theatre production about World War 1 with the same name. The whole film has an upbeat, cheery appearance which disguises the terrible events that are really going on.

The first scene is a big white room with ornate arches, tables and chairs which are all white. To me this room looks unfinished and too much like a set. The use of white makes the room look spacious and bright which adds to an aspect of mystery, you never really know what function the room has - it seems quite multi-functional.  This room is quite symbolic as you keep returning to it throughout the film, its where all the big discussions and the most important decisions are made. 

There is a world map as a big rug in the centre of the ball room part of the white room, This is where all the men are discussing war and whether they should go or not. The way they are talking about the war is quite naive, they don’t really sound like they are taking it seriously and that it’s just a game. They thought the war would be won by Christmas. This childish view of the war is reflected throughout the film, especially through the use of the amusements on the pier.

The next thing you see is Brighton seafront. The band is playing and everyone is happy. When the lights are turned on the name of the pier is ‘World War One’ everyone cheers and hurries to get in the queue. The way the name of the pier is lit up is almost glamorising the war. Everyone’s excited and can’t wait to get into the funfair but when they get there it’s not as they first thought. The man giving out tickets is a British senior officer. The main focuses on the crowd of people are the Smith family, the film ends up following their journey through the trenches. Each funfair attraction represents an aspect of war. The shooting range where they originally start out shooting cardboard cut outs, morphs into the battlefield where there is real fighting going on. Same with the carousel, as it slows down it gets shot at and destroyed. The prize for the shooting game is an army uniform.

The constant comparison to the funfair keeps the upbeat feel going throughout the film but it also carries the naivety. It is also a representation that maybe they think the war is childish and just a game.

I like the scene in the theatre. The curtains open to show young women dressed in frilly yellow dresses, they are affectively recruiting a volunteer army. They are appealing to the national loyalty within men, ‘We don’t want to lose you, but we think you ought to go.’ Another woman comes on and tries to persuade the reluctant men to join, I think this is symbolic because she looks nice and appealing to the audience, especially to the men, but when examined up close, she’s not what they expected, and she is plastered in make-up and not particularly attractive. This represents the men all signing up for a shift on the front, it might look attractive to start with (because the war wasn’t meant to last that long) and it’s not what they thought when they get there, and they start to regret their decision.
The men are all hurried off stage and then the film cuts to them on the battlefield; they went to see a production and ended up soldiers.

There is a constant comparison between the rich and the soldiers. The rich have the impression that the soldiers are enjoying the war; one of them said that she was told in a letter ‘It’s like a picnic but no one tells you off for getting muddy.’ Life is still the same for the rich, they haven’t really felt the effects of the war yet so i think they assume that the soldiers are just having a sort of holiday.

The clothes of the rich are a harsh comparison to the uniforms of the soldiers. The rich are wearing posh and regal dresses, suits, lots of jewels and they all look very glamorous. In comparison, the soldiers whose uniforms clearly reflect the surroundings they are in,  are covered in mud and their clothes are frayed, their hats are all chipped around the edges where they are knocked and scrapped. They enhance the difference between the rich and the soldiers by the light. The rich live in homes that have brightly lit rooms; the soldiers are shown huddled around one flickering candle.

There is still an aspect of ignorance as to how dangerous the war is. When the soldiers are all together they sing ‘we’re ill because we’re ill’. They are not taking their injuries as seriously as they should be as some of their fellow soldiers are being carried past on stretchers. This ignorance is also represented in the white room from the start. There is a big board with statistics showing how many men have been lost and how much land has been gained. There are a lot of men lost before any land has been gained. They are being naive and trying to ignore what is right in front of them. 

Poppies play quite a symbolic part in this film. At the start of the film, the photographer hands out two poppies to the central characters of the photo, once the photo has been taken they drop dead, he then pronounces them assassinated. The poppy is a symbol of death, once someone is given a poppy they are usually killed within that scene. Some of the only colour on the battlefield comes from the random patches of poppies; they are representing the unnecessary bloodshed.

I really like the end scene where you see the soldiers walking past their families and going to sit with each other on the grass. The camera then pans out and the men morph into white crosses, as the camera zooms out you can see the whole field is covered in white crosses, a graveyard. I like the way that they showed the men lying in the grass before they changed into crosses; it initially conveyed the impression that they had survived the war.
Overall I liked the way the film continually contrasted the war with something that other people would understand. It also highlights that they didn’t really consider what they were getting themselves into, and for how long when they went to war. This film has helped me gain a better understanding of people’s emotions and views of the war, and what they really thought.

The White Ribbon film Review

The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (2009) is a film set in a remote German village in the year leading up to World War 1. The story depicts the lives of the villagers and the mysterious events that occur. Haneke originally said that the film is about the ‘origins of terrorism’ but, to me, the film is more about the fear of the unknown.

The use of black and white is very effective in this film it helps to intensify the mood as there is no soundtrack that will manipulate your emotions. Most of the mysterious events that occur usually happen under the cover of darkness; the black and white highlights this and increases the sombre mood, and the extremes between the light and dark subtly let you know when something bad is going to occur. The main source for light is candlelight, the way the candle flickers creating shadows adds to the mysterious almost ghost like quality of this film.
The snow in the last part of the film is extra bright, this almost symbolises the last happy event that the village (& country) have before the war starts. The black and white contrasts also highlight the differences in classes. The richer homes such as the Pastor and Baron homes are lighter, with big windows allowing the light to come through, whereas the poorer homes are darker with less decoration.

The poor homes are smaller and more basically furnished. Such as the farmers home, there are lots of people cramped into a small space. The cramped unhygienic conditions are intensified with the subtle use of flies. The living conditions are also determined by the use of camera angle. For the poorer home the shots are closer and appear to be more cramped, the richer homes are shot from an angle that creates space.

A main theme throughout the film is the treatment of children. The conversation in the first half of the film between the doctors children about death is very haunting. The conversation is very mature for children of their age. The little boy is being very direct with his questions, it makes you wonder what he needs to know the answers for? The colour white usually represents purity, but in the film the Pastor ties white ribbons onto his children to remind them of their actions which are challenging this image. At the end of the film the school teacher suggests that it is the children that are committing these offences. It adds a twist to the story that you wouldn’t expect.

The structure of all the families is very patriarchal. The Baron, the Pastor and the Doctor are superior to the women in this film.   Even from a young age it is clear to see that girls are discriminated against. In the shot where they are walking home after school, the boys run ahead while the girls walk behind. This structure is easy to see in the way that Baron is not very popular but is very powerful and owns the land which in return gains the peoples respect. The doctor is taking advantage of both the housekeeper and his teenage daughter. This is a good example of a conspiracy of silence, most people know that the doctor is sexually abusing his daughter but no one says a word. Even the film only hints at the fact.

I like the way that realism is captured in this film. The long/static camera shots are really effective when it come to building tension and suspense. There isn’t much editing within each section so you see people walk from one room to the next, but with it being chopped around, it all occurs in real time. This causes conversations to be heard behind closed doors and a lot is left to the imagination. Realism is also captured with the background noise. There are lots of birds in the background of outside shots and this makes it more believable.

The scene where the camera shots are used to the best effect is where the doctor’s son is looking for his sister. You see the boy wandering around looking and you know that the doctor is in the room with his daughter. The long camera shots and the use of silence make it really uncomfortable to watch as you predict what the boy will find when he goes into the room.

There are hints of morality throughout the film. The romance between the narrator/school teacher and Eva gives a welcome break to all the mysterious goings on within the village. Also when the boy asks his dad if he can look after the injured bird shows kindness, this brings a lighter side to the film.

Overall, this film is not what I expected it to be. At the end of the film you are left with no answers to the mysteries and this causes us as the audience to come to our own conclusions, which is good because all of the events can be seen in different ways. This film is very powerful but also dark and disturbing, from all that is suggested and seen, not everyone is as they appear to each other. All the talking behind closed doors gives the impression of a door being closed; maybe the door is being closed on the era where no one has ever heard of war.