Annotated Bibliography N-O-P-Q
Neighbors (1952), Director: Norman MacLaren, Running time: 8 minutes.
Produced at the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, the film uses the technique known as pixilation, an animation technique using live actors as stop-motion objects. McLaren created the soundtrack of the film by scratching the edge of the film, creating various blobs, lines, and triangles which the projector read as sound. Two men (Jean Paul Ladouceur and Grant Munro) live peacefully side by side in houses made of cardboard, but when a flower blooms between both their houses, they fight each other to the death over the ownership of the single small flower.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_2hvlppn0
Night and Fog (1955), Director:Alain Resnais, Running time: 31 minutes.
Ten years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, filmmaker Alain Resnais documented the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz. One of the first cinematic reflections on the horrors of the Holocaust, Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard) contrasts the stillness of the abandoned camps' quiet, empty buildings with haunting wartime footage. With Night and Fog, Resnais investigates the cyclical nature of man's violence toward man and presents the unsettling suggestion that such horrors could come again.
Ten years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, filmmaker Alain Resnais documented the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz. One of the first cinematic reflections on the horrors of the Holocaust, Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard) contrasts the stillness of the abandoned camps' quiet, empty buildings with haunting wartime footage. With Night and Fog, Resnais investigates the cyclical nature of man's violence toward man and presents the unsettling suggestion that such horrors could come again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmO4L4H1-as
No Man’s Land (2001), Director: Danis Tanovic, Running time: 98 minutes.
After various skirmishes, two wounded soldiers, one Bosnian and one Serb, confront each other in a trench in the no man's land between their lines. They wait for dark, trading insults and even finding some common ground; sometimes one has the gun, sometimes the other, sometimes both. Things get complicated when another wounded Bosnian comes to, but can't move because a bouncing mine is beneath him. The two men cooperate to wave white flags, their lines call the UN (whose high command tries not to help), an English reporter shows up, a French sergeant shows courage, and the three men in no man's land may or may not find a way to all get along. (Written by J. Hailey for IMDb)
After various skirmishes, two wounded soldiers, one Bosnian and one Serb, confront each other in a trench in the no man's land between their lines. They wait for dark, trading insults and even finding some common ground; sometimes one has the gun, sometimes the other, sometimes both. Things get complicated when another wounded Bosnian comes to, but can't move because a bouncing mine is beneath him. The two men cooperate to wave white flags, their lines call the UN (whose high command tries not to help), an English reporter shows up, a French sergeant shows courage, and the three men in no man's land may or may not find a way to all get along. (Written by J. Hailey for IMDb)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYl8-gs9EGc
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Director: Richard Attenborough, Running time: 144 minutes.
It was the War to end all wars – well not quite. For with the ricochet of one bullet, the entire course of human history was changed forever...Now, for the first time, Academy Award®-winner Richard Attenborough’s directorial debut is available on DVD. Based on the stage musical by the same name, Oh! What a Lovely War features a stellar cast that includes Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm, Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York. By fusing the surreal with the factual and juxtaposing savagely funny satire with quiet sorrow, Attenborough has created the oddest and most outstanding film ever made about the "game" that became World War One.
It was the War to end all wars – well not quite. For with the ricochet of one bullet, the entire course of human history was changed forever...Now, for the first time, Academy Award®-winner Richard Attenborough’s directorial debut is available on DVD. Based on the stage musical by the same name, Oh! What a Lovely War features a stellar cast that includes Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, John Gielgud, Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm, Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York. By fusing the surreal with the factual and juxtaposing savagely funny satire with quiet sorrow, Attenborough has created the oddest and most outstanding film ever made about the "game" that became World War One.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqrc46ouZz8
On the Beach (1957), Director: Stanley Kramer, Running time: 134 minutes.
The war is over. Nobody won. Only the inhabitants of Australia and the men of the US submarine Sawfish have escaped the nuclear destruction and radiation. Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition, another (Ava Gardner) reaches out for a chance at love. The final chapter of human history is coming to a close... From acclaimed director Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind) and screenwriter John Paxton comes this spectacular movie landmark, a film masterpiece with a message that will resonate as long as the world has the power to self-destruct at its own fingertips.
The war is over. Nobody won. Only the inhabitants of Australia and the men of the US submarine Sawfish have escaped the nuclear destruction and radiation. Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition, another (Ava Gardner) reaches out for a chance at love. The final chapter of human history is coming to a close... From acclaimed director Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind) and screenwriter John Paxton comes this spectacular movie landmark, a film masterpiece with a message that will resonate as long as the world has the power to self-destruct at its own fingertips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upg2eqNbF3w
Overlord (1975), Director: Stuart Cooper, Running time: 84 minutes.
Seamlessly interweaving archival war footage and a fictional narrative, Stuart Cooper’s immersive account of one twenty-year-old’s journey from basic training to the front lines of D-Day brings all the terrors and isolation of war to life with jolting authenticity. Overlord, impressionistically shot by Stanley Kubrick’s longtime cinematographer John Alcott, is both a document of World War II and a dreamlike meditation on man’s smallness in a large, incomprehensible machine.
Paperclips (2004), Directors: Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab; Running time: 87 minutes.
Whitwell Middle School in rural Tennessee is the setting for this documentary about an extraordinary experiment in Holocaust education. Struggling to grasp the concept of six-million Holocaust victims, the students decide to collect six-million paper clips to better understand the extent of this crime against humanity. The film details how the students met Holocaust survivors from around the world and how the experience transformed them and their community.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP15cY3f7UA
Paths of Glory (1957), Director: Stanley Kubrick, Running time: 87 minutes.
Safe in their picturesque chateau behind the front lines, the French general staff passes down a direct order to Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas): take the Ant Hill at any cost. A blatant suicide mission, the attack is doomed to failure. Covering up their fatal blunder, the generals order the arrest of three innocent soldiers, charging them with cowardice and mutiny. Dax, a lawyer in civilian life, rises to the men's defense but soon realizes that, unless he can prove that the generals were to blame,nothing less than a miracle will save his clients from the firing squad. A compelling masterpiece from world-class director/writer Stanley Kubrick and screenwriters Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson, Paths of Glory is a blistering indictment of military politics and "an unforgettable movie experience" (Newsweek).
Safe in their picturesque chateau behind the front lines, the French general staff passes down a direct order to Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas): take the Ant Hill at any cost. A blatant suicide mission, the attack is doomed to failure. Covering up their fatal blunder, the generals order the arrest of three innocent soldiers, charging them with cowardice and mutiny. Dax, a lawyer in civilian life, rises to the men's defense but soon realizes that, unless he can prove that the generals were to blame,nothing less than a miracle will save his clients from the firing squad. A compelling masterpiece from world-class director/writer Stanley Kubrick and screenwriters Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson, Paths of Glory is a blistering indictment of military politics and "an unforgettable movie experience" (Newsweek).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DHhTjiVlF4
Peace on Earth (1939), Director: Hugh Harman, Running time: 8 minutes 27 seconds
Peace on Earth is a one-reel 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon short directed by Hugh Harman, about a post-apocalyptic world populated only by animals. Two young squirrels ask their grandfather on Christmas Eve who the "men" are in the lyric "Peace on Earth, good will to men." The grandfather squirrel then tells them a rotoscoped history of the human race, focusing on the neverending wars men waged. Ultimately the wars do end, with the deaths of the last men on Earth, two soldiers shooting each other. Afterwards, the surviving animals discover a copy of the Bible in the ruins of a church. Inspired by the book's teachings, they decide to rebuild a society dedicated to peace and nonviolence (using the helmets of soldiers to construct houses). The cartoon features an original song written to the tune of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". According to Hugh Harman's obituary in the New York Times and Ben Mankiewicz, host of Cartoon Alley, the cartoon was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. However, it is not listed in the official Nobel Prize nomination database. Mankiewicz also claimed that the cartoon was the first about a serious subject by a major studio. In 1994, it was voted #40 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. It was also nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoons)
Platoon (1986), Director: Oliver Stone, Running Time: 120 Minutes.
Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men, and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side.
The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice—pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a “you-are-there” quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. (Jim Emerson, Amazon)
Platoon put writer-turned-director Oliver Stone on the Hollywood map; it is still his most acclaimed and effective film, probably because it is based on Stone's firsthand experience as an American soldier in Vietnam. Chris (Charlie Sheen) is an infantryman whose loyalty is tested by two superior officers: Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), a former hippie humanist who really cares about his men, and Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a moody, macho soldier who may have gone over to the dark side.
The personalities of the two sergeants correspond to their combat drugs of choice—pot for Elias and booze for Barnes. Stone has become known for his sledgehammer visual style, but in this film it seems perfectly appropriate. His violent and disorienting images have a terrifying immediacy, a “you-are-there” quality that gives you a sense of how things may have felt to an infantryman in the jungles of Vietnam. Platoon won Oscars for best picture and director. (Jim Emerson, Amazon)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPi8EQzJ2Bg
Pretty Village Pretty Flames (1997), Director: Srdjan Dragojevic, Running time: 125 minutes
This provocative and disturbing movie is based on an incident that happened in the first winter of the war in Bosnia in 1992. Two childhood friends, one a Serb the other a Muslim, square off on opposite sides of war, their friendship tattered and in ruins.
This provocative and disturbing movie is based on an incident that happened in the first winter of the war in Bosnia in 1992. Two childhood friends, one a Serb the other a Muslim, square off on opposite sides of war, their friendship tattered and in ruins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynEtSZFASwM
Prisoner of the Mountains (1997), Director: Sergei Bodrov, Running time: 99 minutes.
There's a beautiful irony in the way that the most specific war tales are often the most universal. Set high in the imposing, isolated Caucasus mountains, where the 20th century meets ancient lifestyles, Sergei Bodrov's drama of the Chechyn war finds two opposing cultures locked in conflict for so long that the reasons seem moot. Young Russian grunt Vanya (Sergei Bodrov Jr., the director's son) and his jaded veteran Sergeant (Burnt by the Sun's Oleg Menshikov) survive an ambush by Chechyn guerrillas and wind up hostages of a village elder, a war-weary widower who has lost almost everything to fighting and wants merely to swap them for his POW son. Bodrov's humanism is directed with empathy and stirred with harsh realism—he takes no sides and offers no fantasies of happy endings, only small miracles of kindness that refuse to be swallowed in the destruction and mistrust. (Sean Axmaker)
There's a beautiful irony in the way that the most specific war tales are often the most universal. Set high in the imposing, isolated Caucasus mountains, where the 20th century meets ancient lifestyles, Sergei Bodrov's drama of the Chechyn war finds two opposing cultures locked in conflict for so long that the reasons seem moot. Young Russian grunt Vanya (Sergei Bodrov Jr., the director's son) and his jaded veteran Sergeant (Burnt by the Sun's Oleg Menshikov) survive an ambush by Chechyn guerrillas and wind up hostages of a village elder, a war-weary widower who has lost almost everything to fighting and wants merely to swap them for his POW son. Bodrov's humanism is directed with empathy and stirred with harsh realism—he takes no sides and offers no fantasies of happy endings, only small miracles of kindness that refuse to be swallowed in the destruction and mistrust. (Sean Axmaker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QplbY6W59eg