Propaganda
-
chrissso — 9 years ago(April 30, 2016 04:58 PM)
I don't think Americans could make a film like this? We as a country have never experienced brutality comparable to what they Germans unleashed on the Belorussians and Ukrainians (sans Native Americans).
More so I am sad for you you clearly do not understand history as well as the meaning of the word propaganda. -
pranith_online — 9 years ago(May 13, 2016 11:39 AM)
I kind of do agree with you. Although the film is not necessarily Pro-Soviet as it has nothing to do with Soviet Russian characters. I see it as Pro-belarusian. Fact being, if you disregard all the scenes from when you are first introduced to the partisans and when they finally ambush the German convoy towards the latter part of the film. It portrays them as a very heroic and daring bunch. Successfully ambushing and destroying an Enemy convoy. (This obviously isn't what the film is centered around) Moreover, the scene where the partisans stage photographs in the early part of the film also hints of a very propaganda-ish vibe With the patriotic music and speech. When I first watched the movie, I thought this scene established the vanity of soldiers and how they attempt to glorify war. And I thought much of the movie would be about our protagonist's struggle as a partisan soldier against the superior German army. nevertheless as this eventually was not the case and seeing as the partisans eventually triumph over the Nazis ( Which indeed is a glorious achievement) and the final title card or whatever talks about the plight of the Belorussians during WWII it seems like an attempt of propaganda. Anyway I'm not sure if it's intentional or not. I may even be wrong. However, even if it is a use of propaganda, it in no way affects the movie, on the contrary it gives it more depth and realism. Besides Propaganda or not, it's not the central theme of the film, and shouldn't really dictate ones opinion of the film. As to your point about American films. I disagree. I doubt Hollywood has ever or will ever make a film as brutal or realistic or most importantly historically accurate as this. And for some reason all American War films suffer from a propaganda promotion campaign. Even a film as good a Saving Private Ryan does have its "Yeah!! America!!" moments. Although for good reason.
-
rmingelgrun — 9 years ago(June 09, 2016 01:03 PM)
First of all, you need to learn to spell correctly. Second, if you think that the stuff depicted in this movie is propaganda and did not happen, perhaps you should talk to my parents. Your comment only goes to show that you are an ignorant jackass totally devoid of historical knowledge.
-
bigdaddyboxmeal — 9 years ago(September 01, 2016 02:53 AM)
One of the more ridiculous statements I've ever seen on this board. Something that is critical about Nazis during WW2 is not 'propaganda'. Educate yourself on what that word means.
It's fact. This film is an incredible character study on what war actually does (and did) to people using a real situation for its inspiration.
If this film was made by Americans and the US had been subject to the atrocities that the areas in this film were subject to then it would be as much of a classic. Unfortunately that didn't happen. -
franzkabuki — 9 years ago(September 13, 2016 03:22 AM)
It's actually amazing how thoroughly Come And See manages to eschew politics, especially considering the project originated from the time before Perestroika kicked in. It's about survival amidst unspeakable horror, period. No rousing ideological speeches, no waving of red flags, no larger-than-life working class heroes. Just a scared kid who may or may not lose his sanity by the end of the ordeal.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan -
aurisdb — 9 years ago(September 13, 2016 06:02 AM)
Also, what is the pro-Soviet theme here if I may ask? This is about Nazi occupation of Belarus and the life of its civilians in that time. Soviets weren't really even featured, neither in a positive or in a negative way.
-
-
SamoanJoes — 9 years ago(December 29, 2016 10:10 AM)
If this movie was made by Americans everybody
would lose there sh it and complain how its
propaganda.
I disagree. I think if the movie was
about
Americans, then you'd hear it. Either way, seeing how I'm neither Russian or American I look at this film from a neutral standpoint and say that I don't find it to be propaganda at all. -
Chronic_Johnson — 6 years ago(January 06, 2020 04:01 PM)
It's difficult to make a war film that won't be seen as propaganda to at least someone, somewhere in the world. There's always going to be an "enemy". But, that aside, a lot of these films that show the horrors of war help in making it less of a propaganda piece. The bleaker the better. There's no glorious victory to lift spirits and motivate people to fight for their country in this movie. Not that most people would fall for that now anyway. But my point being that because this movie goes out of its way to show you how depressing and awful war can be, it's far more likely to make you dislike or fear the idea of going to war than motivate you to actually do so. So while you could say this film paints the Germans as monsters, it's not entirely propaganda. If anything, it's the Nazis that were following orders, and the Belorussians (I assume the people who were rounded up with the Nazis who said they're "not German" were other Belorussians) that were forced to follow Nazi orders who are painted in a negative light. Monsters and cowards respectively.
It's not a hate-piece aimed at Germans. It's a hate-piece aimed at Nazis and, perhaps, cowardly traitors. And if there is any objectively evil "enemy" it would be the Nazis that ordered atrocities to happen.
No one should be surprised that a 1985 Soviet-made film doesn't take the time to make the point that not all of the German soldiers were pure evil. It was another time and political climate back then, and with veterans/survivors still around at the time, nobody was really going to sympathize with the not-so-bad German soldiers that were merely following orders. Like anyone would in a war at the time. I just don't think the Soviet government would have allowed that thought process. Especially in films. But the movie could have done a lot worse as far as propaganda goes.