Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Welcome to Five Minute Film Finder.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Brought to you by Pioneer Library System.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Five Minute Film Finder. I'm Ben, and today I'm joined by Samuel. Hey. This is our first time doing an episode together.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: We chose some fun ones. So we're getting into some war movies today and, like, a pretty broad spectrum between the two.
[00:00:34] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: Do you. Are you a fan of war movies?
[00:00:38] Speaker E: I don't know if I would say I'm a fan of war movies.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: It's hard to say fan.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Because then you start. Sound like you're drumming the beat of war. But, like, do you get a lot out of, like, watching these types of movies?
[00:00:52] Speaker E: I think I do. Like, you know, I. I think if, you know, you have a dad of certain age, you're going to watch a lot of, say, World War II movies.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:01:01] Speaker E: And so I think I was sort of brought up to like them from a young age, I guess. And when I think about a lot of recent movies that I've liked, a lot of them, you know, have taken place in war settings. You know, a recent one that I liked was 1917. Right. Which is a World War I film and stuff. And so a lot of these movies, they can be kind of terrifying to watch. But.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think you mentioning having a dad of a certain age, I think that's a good point because a certain era which we will be covering, the tone is incredibly different.
[00:01:39] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: It's very much like American or Western exceptionalism. It's like drumming the patriot beat and kind of like being like, we really did something.
It's kind of like a picture of a time in, like, we did this. We. We did. We fought the good fight and less like the modern take of, like, this is the horror of what we're going through. Like, this is the reality. Like, this is the ugly truth of fighting a war.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:02:11] Speaker E: We get both sides today.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And, like, that's kind of why I was excited to cover these two. Two movies. So with that being said, do we want to jump off into our first one?
[00:02:21] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Okay. I'll get Wilhelm started. And what's our first movie?
[00:02:26] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:02:26] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:02:27] Speaker E: So the first movie we're gonna go with the kind of. The harder watch, I think, which is. Was my pick for today, was 71, which is a film about the troubles in Ireland. Right. It follows an English private by the name of Hook. His first name is Forgetting Me, is escaping me at the moment, but he. He is part of a regiment that goes over To Belfast.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: If you don't mind, I'll jump in with the IMDb synopsis, which is a little short this time. And so in 1971, a young and disoriented British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the deadly streets of Belfast.
That's like the first 10 minutes.
[00:03:09] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: That just sets up our whole movie. So it really.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: The.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: The meat of the movie takes off from there.
[00:03:16] Speaker E: Yes, it's very much guy by himself in hostile territory, trying to survive the night.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Kind of feel, I mean, just off the bat, like a stressful movie throughout. It doesn't really ebb and flow. It's just like constant tension.
[00:03:33] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:03:34] Speaker E: You're constantly worried about his safety, who wishes him harm and who wishes him, you know, good. And you see, and there's a sense in which.
What I really appreciate about this movie, I'm kind of fascinated by the history of Ireland. And so, you know, I've read a couple books and I'm listening to podcasts on the history of Ireland, and you kind of get a sense this is a low.
Obviously a low trust society.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:04] Speaker E: So much so that a good Samaritan who does help him, his daughter's constantly like, no, don't help him. We don't know who he is. And when they find out he's a soldier, this is before they find out he's a soldier, they're not going to help him. And then when they find out he's a soldier, it is the worst thing that could have happened to them.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:04:21] Speaker E: And they are civilians, right? They are, but. But that paints a target on their back.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Just a guy trying to help a guy who looks like he's hurt.
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:04:31] Speaker E: No, it is. It is a very tense movie. And you kind of see the. The horror of these sorts of skirmishes, even, and wars and battles and riots. Right. Where people do some incredibly cruel things. And I think you get two kinds of characters in this movie.
People who are not able to do that, or unless they're pushed to.
To some sort of edge of their own survival or. Or, you know, the survival of someone they see as defenseless. Right. There are those people in this movie, and then there are people who are more than willing to make the cruel decision, like who are more than willing to shoot first. Yeah. And it's jarring and shocking, and it shows kind of the horror of, like, urban guerrilla warfare that was happening in Northern Ireland.
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:30] Speaker E: You know, in the year 71, which is in a lot of. A lot of people's lifetimes.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And if that, like hearing that year, I'm like, that's recent. Like, that feels like modern, modern history. Not, not a long time ago. I think something that really struck me with this is the, the film didn't really take sides on the, like, the factions that were involved in this, but it seemed to take sides on the like approaches. Like, it definitely like painted like, oh, this, like these people have this kind of approach. These people have this kind of approach even within the same faction. And it kind of like painted it that way, but it wasn't. It was very much kind of a like sober look at. Like this is just the reality of what's going on. There are bad things happening on both sides and also bad people playing. Playing both sides.
[00:06:21] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, it's there, There is sort of a cynical outlook to it where I, I think, I think a big, the, the big thrust of this film is that, you know, the, the violence, the political violence is fruitless and, and it just, it just causes harm and more harm and it, and it cycles out and it catches more and more people into its net, which, you know, before we started recording seems to be. And I know this isn't a movie we're covering, but the Battle of Algiers, the 1966 film, which was a, basically a propaganda film for, you know, the, the Algerian liberation movement. And it's sort of lionizing their, their use of violence in order to secure their independence. And you get these parallels. Both, both are sort of, these are subjects of colonialism, you see.
You know, you start to question, you know, why commit this, this many, this many resources to kind of this sort of fight. And in both movies, but they have different takes maybe on political violence that is, that is Wilhelm.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Do you have any, like, closing thoughts?
[00:07:30] Speaker E: Yeah, I, Well, I could go on and on and on about this movie.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: It was very good, I think with all the, the things that we said about like how heavy it is and how stressful. It's a very well made film. It's, it's very watchable. It's. And like the cinematography is beautiful. I think it paints the pictures of what's going on in a very interesting and clear way and like, uses interesting techniques to further the story.
[00:07:56] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, I think, Yeah, I think it's one of the, one of the better war movies I've seen on that score. But I do. Before we move on, I want to throw in a couple content, content warnings. Obviously there's very strong language, but, but if you can't handle just brutal violence.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: There are a, A Couple scenes that are particularly just hard.
[00:08:19] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Like for both gore.
Not in a horror movie sense, but in a war movie sense of just like bad things happen to people and it feels real and it's. And it's scary.
[00:08:32] Speaker E: Yeah. So, yeah, if you, if you want to skirt around that, you don't want to watch that, go ahead and pass on this movie. But.
[00:08:38] Speaker C: But, yeah. Great.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: Well, thank you for picking this one, Samuel. It was a. It was a fun first time watch. Well, fun. It was a good first time watch for me and I'm. I will suggest it to other people for sure.
[00:08:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: We'll take a quick break and then we'll be back with our next mov.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: All right.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: And we are back. So we are going to jump into our next movie if Wilhelm will start the timer.
We are talking about 1963's the Great Escape.
So I'll just go ahead and jump in with the IMDb synopsis.
Allied officers in German prisoner of war camp during World War II make a daring plan for a mass escape by hundreds of POWs, hoping to draw German personnel and resources away from combat on the front lines.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: I mean, this movie is like exactly what it says it is. It's about an escape, like, top to bottom. The movie starts them dropping everybody off in this new prison camp that is specifically to gather all these prisoners who keep escaping. And it's.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: I.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: Right off the bat, it's such a different vibe.
[00:10:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: It starts off with like a jaunty patriotic tune that comes back throughout the movie. Just be like, we're still having fun, guys. I know we're prisoners of war, but we're sticking it to the Germans.
What did you think of this movie? Have you seen it before?
[00:10:20] Speaker E: Now this is wildly enough my first time seeing this movie, which is kind of a shock to me.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:10:26] Speaker E: But it was fun, you know, which is weird for a movie that, you know.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: It takes place in World War II. The antagonists are Nazis.
[00:10:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: It's such a different feeling of a war movie in that it's very, like, gentlemanly.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: It's.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: It's very much like we, we respect each other. Like, they're like having meetings as they enter the camp, being like, well, don't do any funny business. And they're like, well, it is my duty to do funny.
And like, it's all. And it's like, you could. I couldn't imagine somebody making a movie with that vibe about war now.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Even if it was in that time period.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:14] Speaker E: It's interesting because, you know, you have, like, the German officers and the British officers who are sort of, you know, we're men of war and we have these rules, and it's like, please don't escape. It's our duty to escape. Okay, fine. The battle lines are drawn, and we're gonna. We're going to hash it out. But. But there's the. The sort of the. The shadow of the Gestapo and the ss, and those are the guys who, you know, are. Are the villains of the movie. And it's interesting to see, you know, how Germans are portrayed in this film considering, you know, all the horrible things that. That they did during World War II. But.
But that framing makes it less intense, I think.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. And, I mean, the.
The cast doesn't hurt either. Like, it's a crazy cast for the time. Like, we'll just rattle them off. Steve McQueen, one of the biggest movie stars of the era.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: James Garner, hometown hero.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker E: James Garner, Avenue fame.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Richard Attenborough.
[00:12:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Playing a tough guy, a tough, like, senior officer. Who is it? Big X or Mr.
[00:12:28] Speaker E: I think big X.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Big X. What a cool code name.
[00:12:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: Charles Bronson as Danny Tunnel King.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: James. Donald. Donald Pleasence, James Coburn. These are all, like, names that you hear all over movies from the 60s, 70s, just, like, masters of that time period. And like, action, war, western movies. You would just see them everywhere. Spy movies a lot as well.
[00:13:01] Speaker E: And for the Halloween fans. Donald Pleasance.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:13:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: I think the first time I saw this movie was in a film is lit class in high school. Okay. Which I think kind of helped me contextualize it, because in high school, I probably would have hated this otherwise. But, like, I had a great teacher. This is why we love our teachers.
[00:13:23] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: They give us context. They allow us to broaden our minds. She, like, really broke down. Like, what was interesting about this? And like, the. Because this is a quote, unquote true story, just certain details are changed. They. They have the text right at the beginning to let you know. It's like the time is compressed, the dates are changed, some locations have changed, but it is essentially a real thing that happened with a massive prison camp that had a mass escape through the concerted efforts of all these, like, almost career escapees from the army. That's the wild Allied forces. Yeah.
[00:14:06] Speaker E: Just these guys, they just. It's almost like they're not in the war to fight, just there to get caught and escape. That's their whole thing.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: We're here to harass behind enemy lines.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: From within their grasp.
I enjoyed this Movie immensely. It's so weird.
After I watched it, 71, then the great Escape, which I feel like was probably the weirder move because it was like going from like a dark realistic to like a kind of like more sunshiny.
This movie is fun until I would want to say, like, the last 20 minutes.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: Like when they're actually out and escaping and then getting re. Caught, that's when it, like, kind of the. The reality of the situation hits.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: When you start, like, as you said, when they start interacting with the ss, the Gestapo, like, that's when, like, it's like, oh, no, you will get killed. Like, these. These people do not have the sense of, like, respect for fellow forces.
[00:15:06] Speaker E: There's. Yeah, there's. There's a sense they don't have the virtue of honor.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Right.
[00:15:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
Who would you suggest this movie for?
[00:15:20] Speaker E: I mean, I think it's hard for me not. Not say everyone, because it is. It is a long movie. It's, you know, almost three hours.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: Yeah. But that's the content warning with this movie. You need. You need a little brick of time to.
Or break it up.
[00:15:35] Speaker E: But it's so well done.
They just let the movie, the plot breathe and so.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: And despite most of the movie having taken place in this one camp, it feels big. Like, the Steve McQueen motorcycle stuff at the end looks so good and cool. Like the crane shot. Just thinking of them shooting those crane shots of him, like, riding through those German fields, like, at the end is like, wow. They really, like, spent some money and, like, really crafted this movie, like, as like an epic. Oh, and I think that's our time, but, like, so good. Yeah, I. I think if. If you're a fan of, like, Steve McQueen movies.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: He's. He's so charming in it as ever.
I like his arc in it. Like.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: You kind of think of him as, like, oh, he's going off half. Half cocked, but, like, he, like, is kind of like the heart of the movie. Everybody else is more like, I don't know, like.
[00:16:42] Speaker E: Kind of rational. They're planning, you know, and he's just like, I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna escape.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Just my job to do this.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:16:49] Speaker E: No, I think, yeah. If you like ensemble cast, if you. If you like sort of battle of wits and films, things like that.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Absolutely, yeah.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:58] Speaker E: If you like something celebrating, like, the human spirit, you know, I think this is. This is the movie for you.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. Well, those were our two movies for the day. Thank you for joining me today. Samuel.
[00:17:11] Speaker E: This was great, Ben.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Yeah, we are fast approaching our hundredth episode and we're gonna have an exciting little retrospective for you. So keep an eye out and we will see you guys next time.
[00:17:23] Speaker E: Awesome.
[00:17:23] Speaker C: See you then. Bye.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: Five Minute Film Finder is a digital program brought to you by Pioneer Library System in Oklahoma. All opinions expressed in this episode are those of the host and not those of the organization.
Five Minute Film Finder is produced, recorded and mixed by Ben Si. Theme music by Ben Si.
If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please email podcastioneerlibrary system.org remember to, like, review and subscribe.
Thanks for listening.
