Tabuno, I appreciate what you say, but I have an entirely different opinion. To me, if there was a voice-over, that would kill it. It would be as if the movie director was dictating to the audience...
Type: Posts; User: vbloom
Tabuno, I appreciate what you say, but I have an entirely different opinion. To me, if there was a voice-over, that would kill it. It would be as if the movie director was dictating to the audience...
Tabuno___ A writer for The New Republic, Michael B. Oren, makes the same point in the March 17 issue. I took exception to it then as I do now. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst I know that some...
Many SS were executed as war criminals not only because of the murder of the Jews, but the murder of Poles and many Slavs who were viewed to be inferior. Genocide is a war crime. The SS also...
I wonder if Kurt Gerstein was a Jew passing as a German. Gerstein is a Jewish name. Perhaps the SS was only 99.9% German. Maybe he was one of these blonde, blue-eyed Jews. The fact that there was...
PIPSORCEL is certainly right that "Das Boot" is a great film, and revelatory about THE GERMAN CHARACTER. In that film there was no anti-Semitism or sadism or brutality. The German submariners were...
Mir wants to make a distinction of 'flat' characters vs characters shown in depth. He says the Jews (he used the small 'j') were flat in "Schindler's List."
Hardly! Both Schindler and the Jewish...
I was rather amazed at your reply, citing the German officer's patience and apparent kindness by not raising his voice or striking him. Evidently, he had some education and breeding, some semblance...
I wish to respond to pipsorcle that I KNOW that not ALL Germans were mean or monsters during WWII. In Roman Polanski's film, "The Pianist" the director showed many, many instances of German...
Marina, you are quite right to give examples of the cruelties of Americans. Are these the exceptions or the rule? The massacres of the Indians were largely in the 19th and 18th centuries. The New...
Sophie's Choice is another film which makes me wonder about THE GERMAN CHARACTER. I can't imagine an American soldier perpetrating such a sadistic cruelty on a mother with two small children. But...
If you wanna know how powerful a leader Hitler was (and how he came to believe that he was doing the right thing for the future of humanity) read Mein Kampf. I read it as a curious civilian who...
... in general...
I have a tendency toward stereotypical thinking... in general.
That is a generalization, typical of stereotypical thinking. The human mind has a tendency toward stereotypical...
The roots, causes, and circumstances surrounding the expression of man's inhumanity to man are not to be found in the "character" of a specific nation. It goes deeper. It is not that simple....
A new topic which might interest some of the readership of Filmwurld, coming from the discussion between Mr Knipp and vbloom re: "The Pianist" and Grim's review of it, is THE GERMAN CHARACTER. Does...
Mr Knipp seems to feel that the appropriate and timely response to "The Pianist" is one of healing and compassion. He would feel differently if he were a Jew, especially a Jew who was subjected at a...
Why should you get a break? You don't have to have a good memory because we have our texts right in front of us to refer to on the screen. Yes, I do disagree with your assertion that "a deep core or...
Chris Knipp, give me a break! I am 71 and my memory does not always serve me well. Still, I am consistent when it comes to the deep core of my belief. You misquoted me as saying that ALL Germans...
The irony is in ridiculously characterizing the Spanish character, the Greek character, etc., as if such generalizations can truly be made. I mean the opposite--- such generalizations cannot be...
Irony flourishes where the soil is rich. It is a literary device historically respected, and if done well, admired. It takes a special mind to fully appreciate it.
You don't recognize irony when you see it, unfortunately!
Chris Knipp is quite correct that there is no German character, that the whole concept tends to stereotyping and bigotry. That said, it must be admitted that there remains in Germany a deep core of...
Why should we not take Grim's description of the German audience reaction literally? True, what he described can be interpreted various ways, but he is making a point that the German character is...
I read what Grim said about the reaction of the German audience. It certainly did not speak well for German attitudes toward the Jews or the Holocaust. But I would suggest that the laughing was...
Mark, it is not necessary to show Szpilman playing the piano throughout the film. It was established at the beginning that Szpilman is a talented and popular pianist, and that is enough for him to...
Mark, believe it or not, the film is not about the person of the pianist, hence he is shown with no depth, just the characteristic that he is a genius musician and is a survivor. Somehow people want...