World WarⅡ-In the eyes of different nations
Edited by Xu Qi & Vivian Zhang

In this world, events turn into history in split seconds. Some, like the Second World War, will never be buried in oblivion. In the past sixty years, thousands of movies have been shot which commemorate this period of time. While the whole world is celebrating the 60th anniversary of victory over the fascist forces, Common Talk brings you the most touching movies showing the war in the eyes of different nations.

America


Name: Saving Private Ryan (1998) 《拯救大兵瑞恩》
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: War/Drama
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore
Introduction:
During World War II, it is found that 3 soldiers who have been killed are brothers. The mother will be receiving three death notices on the same day. The army discovers that there were actually four brothers. A team is deployed to find Private James Ryan and send him home.
Review:
"What is abundantly clear is that in the massive body of films that deal with World War II, this is one that pulls no punches."
- BBC
Quotes:
Captain Miller: James... I'm here to tell you your brothers were killed in combat. They're dead.
Private Ryan: Which one, sir?
Captain Miller: All of them.

China


Name: The Battle of Tai'erzhuang (1986) 《血战台儿庄》
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Drama/War
Director: Yang Guanyuan, Zhuo Junjie
Starring: Shao Honglai
Introduction:
In the spring of 1938, General Li Zongren of the KMT led the 5th Army to a bloody victory against the Japanese at the Battle of Tai'erzhuang. This film recreates the atmosphere on the eve of and throughout that fateful battle, and is the first mainland movie depicting the wartime confrontation between the KMT and the Japanese army during the Anti-Japanese War.
Review:
"With its epic settings and oil-painting color, The Battle of Tai'erzhuang can be regarded as China's first big military movie."
-China Youth Daily
Quotes:
"Sir, in such a cruel war as this, what do we need this money for? Use the money to build a gravestone for us after the war ends, and we'll be satisfied."
-Chinese soldiers returning the military subsidy that the general allocated them.

Italy


Name: Life Is Beautiful (1997) 《美丽人生》
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Roberto Benigni
Starring: Roberto Benigni Giustino Durano
Introduction:
Roberto Benigni co-wrote, directed and starred in this comedy-drama about the horrors of World War II. It's an unusual film that begins as a lighthearted romantic comedy and ends with a descent into the hell of the WWII concentration camps. With the use of humor and a game, Benigni's character helps his son in the worst of times.
Review:
"Shows how humor is a rich spiritual resource that enables us to cope with the unexpected and to smile through the unbearable. "
-Spirituality and Health
Quotes:
"You can lose all your points for any one of three things. One: If you cry. Two: If you ask to see your mother. Three: If you're hungry and ask for a snack Forget it"
-Guido(The father)

Britain


Name: Hope And Glory (1999) 《希望与荣耀》
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Comedy/Drama/War
Director: John Boorman
Starring: Sammi Davis, Sarah Miles
Introduction:
A veteran filmmaker's recollection of the bombing of London during World War II. Set on the British home front during the early days of the war, this episodic movie shows the blitz through the eyes of seven-year-old Billy. Billy's ever- tolerant mom does her parental best while Dad's off to war. But when your street is in rubble, the school's ablaze and the Luftwaffe is parachuting into your backyard, one tends to be a lot more lenient...
Review:
"A wonderful and touching story about life during wartime."
-Journal And Courier
Quotes:
"In all my life, nothing ever quite matched the perfect joy of that moment. My school lay in ruins the river beckoned with the promise of stolen days."
-Narrator (John Boorman)

France


Name: Don't Look Now, We've Been Shot at (La Grande Vadrouille)《虎口脱险》 (1966)
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Comedy
Director: Gérard Oury
Starring: Louis de Funès Bourvil
Introduction:
Paris 1943. Three Allied parachutists land unexpectedly and turn upside-down the peaceful lives of a conductor and a house painter. The only way to get rid of their unwanted guests is to lead them to the free zone. This was the highest-grossing film in France for more than thirty years!
Review:
"Maybe French movies aren't the most impressive but this one is one of the comedy classics I remember watching when I was younger. Absolutely brilliant comedy and an instant classic! "
-An on-line reviewer
Quotes:
House painter: Where are we now?
Conductor: We are just here.

Japan & America


Name: Tora Tora Tora (1970) 《虎! 虎! 虎! 》
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: War/Drama
Director: Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Martin Balsam, So Yamamura
Introduction:
The path to war in December 1941 is retold from the appointment of Isoroku Yamamoto to the command of the Imperial Japanese Navy on through the execution of his most ambitious and audacious plan -an attack by carrier aircraft on the US Navy station at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.
Review:
An excellent account, if not one of the best documentary style movies of all time, of the event that plunged the United States into the Second World War, as told from both sides.
- A net viewer
Quotes:
"For God's sake, that's not a paper fleet sitting out there."
-Admiral Kimmel (defending the Navy's capability in case of attack)

Russia


Name: Enemy at the Gates (2001) 《兵临城下》
Rating: ★★★★
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Starring: Jude Law, Ed Harris
Introduction:
In the winter of 1942, the German and Russian Armies meet in the great Battle of Stalingrad, one of the most vicious engagements of the Second World War. Enter into this horror a young Russian soldier, formerly a peasant boy with an extraordinary ability as a marksman. The Russian sniper soon gains fame after killing a record number of German officers, causing the Germans to bring in their own sniper expert: a war weathered Major who always accomplishes his mission no matter what the cost. With the Battle of Stalingrad raging around them, these two men must now fight each other.
Review:
"With the epic scope of Saving Private Ryan and the tender heart of Life is Beautiful, this is a film that ponders the hopes and fears of World War II participants in a very personal and meaningful way."
-Norman Transcript
Quotes:
"Vodka is a luxury we have. Caviar is a luxury we have. Time is not."
-A Russian general

The world's commemoration
Photo source: ImagineChina

南京: 民众拜祭遇难同胞 Chinese residents visit the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, July 14. July 7 is the 68th anniversary of the Lugouqiao (Marco Polo Bridge) Incident in which Japanese invading troops launched an assault on the Chinese army, marking the start of Japan's full-scale invasion.
台北: 举办纪念抗战胜利60周年图片展 Visitors point at a photo in Taipei, July 7, in an exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
泉州: 大型抗战图片展揭幕 A Japanese teacher from Huaqiao University in Quanzhou shows visitors historical pictures of the Anti-Japanese War, May 12. This photographic exhibition attracted large numbers of citizens.
香港: 市民游行纪念抗战胜利60周年 Groups of citizens march in the central district of Hong Kong, July 7. The march marked the anniversary of the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident that marked the beginning of the invasion of China, as well as asking for war reparations and condemning Nazism.
柏林: 25000人街头纪念二战胜利60周年 Demonstrators hold candles in their hands while standing in front of a Berlin landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, as they participate in a chain of candles, May 7. Some 25,000 people took part in the event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII.
莫斯科: 各国元首齐聚阅兵式 Some 60 leaders attend the military parade in Red Square in Moscow, May 9th, during the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in WWII. Nearly 60 heads of state and government and other leading international dignitaries took part in the festivities in Moscow.
伦敦: 二战老兵老泪纵横 A war veteran shows his emotion during London's Horse Guards Parade, July 10, as part of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
华沙: 举办二战历史图片展 An elderly man looks at a photographic exhibition depicting heroes of the Warsaw uprising of 1944 against Nazi Germany and members of the Polish underground government who were imprisoned or executed, Warsaw, May 10 .
乌克兰: 老兵夫妇纪念二战胜利60周年 A couple of WWII Red Army veterans march in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, May 9, during the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in WWII.

Vocabulary
commemorate 纪念
veteran 老兵
condemnation 谴责
massacre 大屠杀
troop 军队
assault 袭击
Vocabulary
oblivion 遗忘
sniper 射手
confrontation 对抗
lenient 宽大的
audacious 大胆的
marksman 神射手