THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: 27. The Bombardment (2021)

 

            “The Bombardment” (also known as “The Shadow in My Eye”) is a Danish WWII movie.  It was directed and written by Ole Bornedal.  The movie is based on Operation Carthage.  This mission called for the RAF to bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen.  The attack resulted in one of the most tragic incidents of collateral damage in that horrible war.

            The movie opens with a title card that tells us the Gestapo is holding resistance members in its headquarters in Copenhagen.  The resistance has contacted the British and begged for the building to be bombed.  The RAF is reluctant because the Germans are essentially using captured resistance members as human shields.  The film starts with a wedding party being strafed by a Mosquito fighter-bomber.  The happy young women are taken completely by surprise, as are we.  The attack is very graphic and pulls no punches.  The scene establishes the fact that RAF aircraft can make mistakes.  Foreshadowing!  A young boy named Henry comes upon the car which looks like Bonnie and Clyde’s.  He loses his ability to speak.  Henry is sent to live with his aunt in Copenhagen.  He goes to a Catholic school with his cousin Rigmor and her friend Eva.  Teaching at the school is Sister Teresa (the director’s daughter Fanny Bornedal).  Teresa is questioning her faith and a bit unstable (she flogs herself).  Frederik (Alex Andersen – Ivar the Boneless in “Vikings”) is a collaborator who is a member of the police force.  He and Teresa run into each other a couple of times.  They develop a strange relationship which is one between a guilt-stricken Gestapo stooge and a nun who feels friendship with evil will be a way to prove whether there is a God.  These individual’s fates will intersect at a school in Copenhagen.

ACTING:   A+                 

ACTION:   N/A

ACCURACY: A          

PLOT:  A-                    

REALISM:   A+ 

CINEMATOGRAPHY:    A+

SCORE:   A 

SCENE:  Eva’s mother running home

QUOTE:  Rigmor:  Sister Theresa, do you think God has dropped a pencil?

            This movie is not for the soft-hearted.  It is based on a true story, but with fictional characters.  It adheres closely to the tragedy that was Operation Carthage.  If you are not familiar with this royal fuck-up, you will be after watching this movie.  I won’t go into the details because that might spoil the impact.  Just be aware that children are put in dire peril.  Director Ole Bornedal also wrote the screenplay and he has deftly juggled the story arcs of the main characters.  The movie revolves around the intersecting lives of Teresa and Frederik, the trio of kids, and the crew of one of the Mosquitoes.  It is a case of it being a small world, but none of what happens seems improbable.  Even the relationship of a nun and a collaborating cop does not induce head-shaking.

            The movie is well-made.  The CGI Mosquitoes are awesome.  It was a plane made for movies.  This is the third movie that it stars in.  The other two are “633 Squadron” and “Mosquito Squadron”.  The latter of those two has a similar plot to this one in that the Mosquitoes are tasked with bombing a jail to release resistance prisoners. All the positive movie portrayals of the iconic aircraft are diluted by this film. Operation Jericho did not have the tragic results of Operation Carthage.  The operation covers the second half of the film and it is thrilling.  There are some POV shots from the cockpit and we follow the bombs down.  The movie intercuts between the bombers, the school, and the Shell House (Gestapo headquarters).  It is suspenseful and then this is followed by the tension created by the fate of the children.  The cinematography advances to the next level in the claustrophobic scenes underground.

            Acting honors go to Fanny Bornedal.  Her Teresa is like no other nun you will ever see.  She is fascinating.  The child actors are very good as well.  The problem is that the movie is too short to develop most of the characters.  We get to know Teresa and Henry well, but the rest are just sketches.  In particular, no resistance member is fleshed out.  That can be excused because this is not a resistance movie, this is the story of a school that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This movie is an anti-war movie, but what it shows is that even if you are on the right side in a “good” war, you will still suffer.  Collateral damage is one reason why war should be avoided if at all possible.

            I did not expect much from this movie.  The recent Netflix war movies like “The Forgotten Battle” and “Munich:  The Edge of War” have been underwhelming.  We have had some good war movies coming out of Denmark, like “A War”, “Land of Mine” and “Flame and Citron”.  However, this movie had no buzz to it.  I was pleasantly surprised and emotionally moved by it.  It is accurate in bringing a forgotten event to the screen.  I was invested in the characters and the last third is edge of your seat.  And it is gut-wrenching.  “The Bombardment” is not for everyone.  But suck it up and learn something.  Those kids deserve to be remembered. 

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  The film correctly gives the background in the opening title card.  The Shellhus was the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen.  It did hold about 30 resistance members who were being tortured and also served as human shields to prevent an attack on the building.  The Danish resistance petitioned the British several times to request the bombing of the Shellhus.  They were willing to sacrifice their own men to reverse the Gestapo’s successful campaign against the resistance.  The RAF turned down the requests because of fear of the dangers of low-level bombing of a crowded city.  Eventually, the RAF relented and green-lit Operation Carthage.  On March 21, 1945 three waves of six Mosquito fighter-bombers escorted by P-51 Mustangs targeted the Shellhus.  The ingress was successful and the headquarters was hit, killing 55 Germans, 47 Danish employees, and 8 prisoners.  18 prisoners escaped and most of the documents were destroyed.  The raid crippled Gestapo operations.  Although 4 Mosquitoes and 2 Mustangs were lost, the mission would have been considered a smashing success but for the smash of one of the Mosquitos.  It hit a lamp post and crashed into the Jeanne d’Arc School.  The crash started a fire which caused some of the bombers from the second and third waves to disregard the mock up of the city that they had been trained with and erroneously target one of the two buildings that were on fire.  The crews did not bother to ascertain which of the two buildings was the Shellhus.  We can assume they would not have bombed a school if they had known, but the cock-up was still inexcusable.  Clearly one of the two buildings aflame had to be a civilian building.  The bombs devastated the school at a time when it was full of students.  Many were killed instantly by the delayed release bombs and others were buried under the rubble.  86 kids and 18 adults (mostly nuns) were killed.  It was one of the worst friendly fire incidents in WWII.  Unfortunately, every modern war seems to have a similar tragedy.

Bombers B-52 (1957)

 

                    “Bombers B-52” was an Air Force recruiting film directed by the prolific Gordon Douglas (The McConnell Story, Up Periscope).  He directed films for five decades, but I don’t think this one was at the top of his resume.  In Great Britain, it was called “No Sleep Till Dawn” which was a slightly more risqué title.  The American title reflects the main character Master Sergeant Chuck Brennen (Karl Malden).  The British title reflects Lt. Col. Jim Herlihy (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.)    This horndog role was turned down by Tab Hunter, who was tired of military films.  The B-52s were played by  actual B-52s, as were the B-47s and F-86s.  The movie had the full cooperation of the U.S. Air Force, for obvious reasons.

                    Wow, a war movie where a woman gets top billing.  And the sappy romantic music over the titles also caused me to wonder what I was about to see.  In Korea in 1950, two F-86s shoot down a MiG.  Ace Captain Herlihy forces a ground crew to work on his plane at night, which draws artillery fire.  This pisses off crew chief Brennen and he hates Herlihy because he is a tool.  Not a tool like he uses to maintain airplanes.  Flash forward six years to Castle Air Force Base, the home of the B-47.  Brennen is there and he has a crew that includes “Brooklyn”.  Guess who his new commanding officer is?  Lt. Col. Herlihy.  To make the relationship even more awkward, Herlihy starts dating Brennen’s daughter Lois (top-billed Natalie Wood).  Brennen is less than thrilled for two reasons.  First, he thinks Herlihy is an ass hole.  Second, he’s a fighter pilot!  Keep your women away from those dudes.  To add to the drama, Lois is pressuring her old man to take a much better paying civilian job.  Brennen is happily married, but then this sexy beast comes along.  The bomber B-52.    Will he take the job offer?  Would that help with Air Force recruiting of technicians?

                    “Bombers B-52” is boring Air Force propaganda.  You know that although the movie finishes with a faux suspenseful test flight of a B-52, you know none of the main characters are going to die.  It’s also clear that Herlihy will get redemption and the girl.  As far as that job, I’ve already spoiled that.  The cast helps, but it can’t overcome the predictability of it all.  And the most important members of the cast, the planes, are not given enough screen time.  They are not hard on the eyes and neither was Natalie Wood.  She may have gotten top billing, but the main character is Brennen.  Her character makes little sense.  For instance, she is ashamed that her father is a crew chief.  This from a girl who repairs the family car on vacation. 

                    For a movie that is an homage to air crews, it sure doesn’t show them doing much and it concentrates on only one crew chief.  Thankfully, that crew chief is Karl Malden because he is the only reason to watch the movie.  Or if you are a huge B-52 fan. 

GRADE  =  D+

NOW SHOWING: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin (2024)

 

         

           “Bonhoeffer” is a new war movie that surprisingly played at a theater nearby. Usually, small war movies do not appear in theaters in my area, so I was perplexed, but pleased. As soon as the credits rolled, I knew why the movie was playing nearby. The movie was made by Angel Studios and it was approved by the Angel Guild. Angel Studios has built a reputation for producing movies with Christian themes. It released “Sound of Freedom” and the tv series “The Chosen”. Since I never read anything about upcoming war movies, this was my first clue that the movie was going to a heavy dose of preaching. It was directed and written by Todd Komarnicki (“Resistance”). It has been controversial.

            The opening occurs in 1914. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is from a big family. He has an idyllic childhood based on that one scene. The movie jumps to 1945 and Dietrich is on a bus full of concentration camp inmates. Then its back to 1915 and Dietrich’s older brother has been drafted by the German army. He won’t be coming back. He leaves Dietrich a Bible with “all the good parts underlined”. The movie is nonlinear with flashbacks to events in his life that lead to his incarceration. Dietrich has taken a path to a religious service. He spends some time at a seminary in New York where he is befriended by a black man. He experiences the racism, but also is exposed to jazz. He returns to Germany around the time that Hitler and the Nazis are taking power. His family discusses this at the dinner table and their conversation mirrors the two views on the subject. Some believe Hitler will never take power and others say that he will, but there is nothing to worry about. He doesn’t mean all those things he says. There is a different debate within the German Lutheran church. Dietrich and others think the church should distance itself from Nazi doctrines like anti-semitism. Others see Hitler as a disciple of Christ who will increase the power of the church. His first sermon takes the theme that Jesus hated religion. He criticizes the church for getting in bed with the Nazis. Priests and uniformed Nazis walk out. Unfortunately, he is in the minority. The church removes crucifixes, statues, and the Old Testament. It is replaced by “Mein Kampf”. His Sunday school pupils are now in the Hitler Youth. He becomes a dissident. One of his famous proclamations was “silence in the face of evil is evil.” He secretly trains seminarians. He then is recruited by his brother-in-law to join the Abwehr. The Abwehr was an intelligence department that had antil—Hitler members. They attempt to assassinate Hitler. His participation leads to his arrest.

            “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin” has a title that appears to be only 1/3 correct. There is little in the movie about him (Jonas Dassler)  spying and although he knew about the assassination attempt portrayed in the movie, he is not an active participant. The movie is mainly about his ministry. He was very brave for vocally opposing Nazism and criticizing the church hierarchy. The plot makes it seem that he was left alone by the authorities until he was arrested (off screen). He certainly was inflammatory and yet there seemed to be little consequences. At one point, he watches a clandestine movie showing a concentration camp. But this is the only thing that reminds us of how evil the Nazis are. The film is not so much anti-Nazi as it is pro-Christian. It is also anti-racism. The scenes in America boost this theme. It seems an attempt to tie the movie to America for box office purposes.

            Critics of the movie claim that it is propaganda for Christian nationalism in America. I did not get that impression. In fact, in two scenes pastors criticize the church’s collaboration with the Nazis. It could be argued that the film is equating evangelism in America with politicians who have fascist leanings. I do not think Bonhoeffer would be pleased with the trend in America today.

            The movie is not as cringe as a nonreligious viewer might expect. Almost every scene has a religious vibe. Much of the dialogue is religious. There are several hymns in it. Since Bonhoeffer was a noted theologist, his dialogue does not seem forced. The “pastor” in the title is well-earned. That dialogue comes from an actor who does a decent job channeling Bonhoeffer’s charismatic proselytizing. 

            Since it is a biopic, there were scenes that stretched credulity. The type of scenes that make my trip to Wikipedia interesting. For example, after Dietrich joins the Abwehr (which seems hard to believe because he was a known anti-Nazi), he and his brother-in-law are tasked with bringing some Jewish prisoners to Switzerland where they will testify that the Jewish people were not being mistreated. The two men are not accompanied by anyone. When they reach the border, they set the Jews free! There is no punishment for this. As I watched the movie I couldn’t help but wonder why this guy is not being arrested. He does not hide his identity when he speaks out against Nazi control of the Lutheran church. Heck, I expected one of the bishops to beg the Gestapo to arrest him. The film has no evil Nazi who is tracking Bonheoffer. In fact, the only Nazi character who interacts with him is a guard who is converted.

            The nonlinear structure causes some awkwardness for history buffs. At first, the film uses title cards, but then abandons them as Bonhoeffer hops around. Sometimes the dialogue references events that have not occurred at the time of the scene. For instance, being “sent to the Eastern Front” is threatened in a scene that had to be before the invasion of Russia. In another scene, Bonhoeffer goes to England to get a bomb for another assassination attempt, but Churchill turns him down because he does not want British fingerprints on a bomb because it might cause Hitler to invade. This is laughable.

            How accurate is it? Bonhoeffer was the son of a father who was a psychiatrist  and a neurologist. His mother was a teacher whose father was a theologian. Dietrich was well-educated and learned to play the piano at age 8. His brother was killed in WWI. Dietrich got a doctorate in theology. He went to America to teach at an American seminary. That is where he developed an abhorrence of racial injustice. He did have a black friend named Frank Fisher and he did spend time at the Abyssinian Baptist Church and taught Sunday school there. The movie “All Quiet on the Western Front” turned him against Christian nationalism and made him a pacifist. (The movie has been criticized by Christians for showing him favoring the murder of Hitler. Thou shalt not kill.) The film does not do a good job in explaining Bonhoeffer’s journey. The Lutheran church did support Nazism and it removed non-Aryans from its clergy and the Old Testament from its dogma. Martin Niemoller (August Diehl) did break from the church and formed the Confessing Church. In 1937, Bonhoeffer published a book entitled “The Cost of Discipleship”. (The movie barely mentions him being an influential author.) The next two years he roamed Germany as a visiting theologian. In 1939, he moved to the U.S. because he was a wanted man, but he returned after just two weeks. (The movie places this as right before the assassination.) The assassination is the one by Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff. The movie does a good job reenacting this (although the Hitler actor is terrible and he was not alone. He was accompanied by several of his henchmen, including Goering). Hitler rushed through the exhibit in much less than Gersdorff’s ten minute timer. Gersdorff did defuse the bomb in the bathroom.  Bonhoeffer’s brother-in-law was in the Abwehr and he did recruit Dietrich, as hard as this is to believe. The Abwehr was a haven for anti-Nazis. Dietrich did help with Jewish escapes (Operation 7), but not in the way the movie depicts. The movie does not show his work as a courier for the German resistance which he did when he was supposed to be spying on churches. In 1943, he was arrested for conspiring to rescue Jews and using his travels for non-intelligence activities. Bonhoeffer did convert some guards in prison. After all his provocative comments, he probably would have survived the war, but when Hitler found out the contents of Abwehr head Admiral William Canaris’ diary, he ordered anyone connected with him to be executed. He was executed by hanging in April, 1945. So, the movie is pretty accurate. That balances the overt religiousity of the film.

            “Bonheoffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin” is an average biopic of a man who deserved cinematic fame, although the opening statement by the director that he was one of he biggest heroes of the war is a bit exaggerated. The nonlinear structure is a bit clunky and it is not a movie that many atheists will enjoy. However, Bonhoeffer’s preachings can resonate with anyone who believes that humanity and the soul of the individual trumps political ideology. And the belief that one must speak out against injustice even if you are not personally affected by it. “When they came for the Jews, I did not speak out, because I am not a Jew….”

 

GRADE  =  C