How I won the war
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | How I won the war |
| Original title | How I Won the War |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1967 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Lester |
| script | Charles Wood |
| production | Richard Lester Denis O'Dell |
| music | Ken Thorne |
| camera | David Watkin |
| cut | John Victor Smith |
| occupation | |
| |
How I Won the War (Original title: How I Won the War) is a British anti- war film from the year 1967 . Directed by Richard Lester , the screenplay was written by Charles Wood , based on the novel of the same name by Patrick Ryan from 1963. The film caused a sensation when the actors were selected, because Lester was able to find John Lennon , at the time with the Beatles at the height of his Career to win for the role of musketeer gripweed . The film had its world premiere on October 18, 1967 in London .
shape
With the stylistic devices of the grotesque , Lester tried to depict the war in a satirical - tragicomic way. He wanted to illustrate the madness of war in a provocative way by chaining together macabre follies, which then usually end in death. The central point of the film is the relationship between a British officer and his subordinates. The film is now considered the prototype of the anti-war film.
content
The action takes place during the Second World War . Locations are North Africa and Germany as well as the training camp in England .
It tells the story of the incompetent and overzealous British officer Lt. Ernest Goodbody. At the beginning of the crossing of the Rhine , he was abandoned by his people, so that he was captured. He befriends the commanding German officer and tells him his story.
Looking back, the viewer learns how Goodbody experiences his military training and how his squad of "musketeers" is subordinate to him. A group that doesn't think much of him and his abilities and is absolutely unmotivated.
After training, Goodbody and his men were sent to North Africa , where he received the absurd order to find an oasis behind the German lines in order to create a cricket field. Several of his soldiers fell on the way. The field is finally laid out more poorly than properly, only to be briefly inspected by a general before he drives on again.
The next scene is the front in Western Europe , where Goodbody loses almost the entire rest of his unit in combat.
The film has now arrived in Goodbody's captivity. Goodbody is negotiating the price of the bridge with the German officer responsible for blowing up a bridge over the Rhine. A sum is agreed, Goodbody writes a check, and the bridge is not blown. When Allied troops reach the bridge, the German officer is run over by a tank. Goodbody acknowledges this with the remark that the check would have bounced anyway.
Reviews
- Roger Ebert comes to the conclusion that Lester did not make a good film. He thinks the film could just as easily have been called "How To Make an Anti-War Film" - the irony would have been the same, because Lester made an anti-war film as successfully as the hero of the film won the war.
- The lexicon of international film, on the other hand, judges: “Vicious satire on militarism, hero cult and veteran sentimentality; at the same time a disrespectful dismantling of all war movie clichés. As in his Beatles films, comedy director Richard Lester uses style elements from the pop avant-garde and comic strip to playfully caricature conventional narrative patterns. "
- The evangelical film observer is full of praise : “Richard Lester's successful attempt at an anti-war film in which he uses the absurd to reveal the absurdity of war and its glorification. A remarkable stance in a questionable document recommended to adults. "
- The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the work the title “valuable”.
backgrounds
Most of the filming took place in Germany at the NATO military training area in Bergen , in Verden (Aller) and in Achim as well as in Spain , in the Andalusian province of Almería. Additional recordings were made in London.
Filming began in Germany in early September 1966. In mid-September the film crew traveled to Spain to shoot the scenes that take place in North Africa. In the first week of November 1966, the recordings in Spain were completed.
The post-production lasted until the beginning of March 1967 and took place partly in the London Twickenham Film Studios, where, for example, scenes were dubbed .
To mark the 40th anniversary of the shooting, an exhibition was designed in Verden and shortly thereafter a memorial was inaugurated at the original location.
literature
- Patrick Ryan: How I Won the War . Transworld 1967 (so far no German translation).
- Thorsten Knublauch and Axel Korinth: Come, Give Me Your Hand - The Beatles in Germany 1960–1970 . Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt 2008. ISBN 978-3-8334-8530-5 .
- Matthias Blazek: 50 years ago the Beat started in the Celle area - 50 years of Beatlemania in Celle . bpr-Projekt GbR, Celle 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-041877-8 .
Web links
- How I Won the War in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- How I Won the War at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ abrauchen.de ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 12, 2010.
- ^ Film review by Roger Ebert .
- ↑ rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (edition from 1988), p. 4293.
- ↑ Critique No. 487/1967, p. 618.
- ↑ On the recordings in Bergen-Hohne cf. Blazek, 2013, pp. 5-6.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn : The Complete Beatles Chronicle , pp. 230 and 245.
