MovieChat Forums > Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) Discussion > Honoring the 100th anniversary of WW1, ...

Honoring the 100th anniversary of WW1, I saw this !@#$%^+....

posted 10 years ago by oscar-35
14 replies | jump to latest

Wow....I couldn't believe this film. Was everyone on a LSD trip when they started this? Millions dying, gased, maimed, homeless, and all; and they do this musical about the carnage. Yeh, I got the anti-war message, but I can also read about WW1's start. Which is cartoonishly little addressed by this film. BTW: See the BBc's docu-drama "37 Days". You'll be better served.

I guess the film producers felt they could paternalisticly talk down to their audience. Immediately, their credibility was lost then. What's next a musical about MiLai massacre, or Natzi death camps, Stalin's Siberian Gulags, Custer's last stand, Wounded Knee?? How about the Kennedy assasination? Maybe Robin William's suicide? Geesh. But considering all the IMDB public viewer's thumbs-up on this monstosity, I guess John Q. Public is hugely afraid to say "no" to Hollywood Progressives propagandist drivel as this. WW1 was a tragedy on humanity. Don't tell me I had family involved. It should have been explored with more respect for the millions killed. I don't respect this film or it's makers.

My thoughts: A weirdly staged simplistic preachy anti-war Broadway play feature film produced during the height of the Vietname War by the British. A terrible theme premise and an even more typically erroneous Progressive view equating the first world war with the Vietnam struggle. The film allegory is not factual but it's oddly enjoyable to watch the producers and cast to try make the wars comparable. The songs are catchy and there is dark humor in this show to personalize the comic book roles. The only worth of this production is seeing the 'time capsule' inane stupidity of the cast and crew struggling with why warfare happens between countries. WW1 was a more serious topic (millions dying) and should have been more correctly dignified with a better treatment. Those millions should not be trivialized or used in such a binary 'black & white' fantasy musical romp. Terrible!

I expect, Now come the forum trolls....

Two reasons for Internet bullying of others with public forum attacks: fear, ignorance and envy.

[–] Altho73 10 years ago

You totally fail to understand what this movie is all about.

[–] oscar-35 10 years ago

I can't agree. I didn't miss a damn thing. I'm my own thinker, thanks. Just have a differing factually based view of this drivel. I'm allowed. REPEATING: WW1 was a more serious topic (millions dying) and should have been more correctly dignified with a better treatment. Those millions should not be trivialized or used in such a binary 'black & white' fantasy musical romp. Terrible!

Two reasons for Internet bullying of others with public forum attacks: fear, ignorance and envy.

[–] marktayloruk 10 years ago

Or that it was first staged before the US became heavily involved in Vietnam.

[–] TheEtiquette 10 years ago

The whole film is an exercise in sarcasm but you evidently failed to see that.

And as Dame Maggie Smith once said: "You can find a funny side to practically anything. Comedy is not the antithesis of tragedy. It's just a different way, detachment, of looking at the same material."

This applies to World War One too.

The truth is neither here nor there. It's the look of the thing that matters!

[–] oscar-35 10 years ago

Please re-read my past comments for better understanding of my views. You have missed my points.
Sarcasm has a point. I understand the concept. This horrific bloody WW1 film's topic should not have been exploited that way. 'Sarcasm is the refuge of the simple mind'. Here's another silly sarcastic comment. Adolph Hitler was an struggling pencil artist.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/photog1z/funny%20stuff%205/engl ishtwit2.jpg
Repeating for some here- I expect, Now come the forum trolls....

Two reasons for Internet bullying of others with public forum attacks: fear, ignorance and envy.

[–] Riding46 10 years ago

The forum trolls? That's you pal.
Can anyone be that thick to have missed the point of this film?
It's satire!
They are not trivializing WWI, far from it, merely showing how absurd the war was. The film is surreal, funny and very moving. I defy anyone not to shed a tear when the credits roll.

[–] oscar-35 10 years ago

Wrong. I see my views are over your head. You're obviously very confused. "The words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a trolling forum fool will swallow up himself."

I'm glad nobody took the bait offered by the last troll opponent here.

Three reasons for Internet trolling of others with public forum attacks: fear, ignorance and envy.

[–] Riding46 10 years ago

Whatevah!

Damn fine movie, very well directed, acted and it is stunning to look at, thanks to the great camera-work and sets.

[–] tubularbelle2003 9 years ago

Anyone who disagrees with you is a troll? No free speech on IMDb by order of oscar-35.

All the songs in the film were composed and sung by the soldiers, it was their way of coping with the horrendous conditions they lived in.
This film does not trivialise war by any means, if anything it shows the horror and futility.

The Long Walk stops every year, just once.

[–] oscar-35 9 years ago

Just correcting your mis-statement of my previous thread comments. You're suggesting a false posting premise for your comments here.

Ahhhhh. responding.. no. IMVHO: Trolls are post responders who can NOT stay on thread topic (thread hyjack), or personally attack the author of a response repetively with ad hominen slurs (schoolyard behavior), or erroneously re-phrase OP comments or meanings (dishonest lack of English comprehension), or combatively repeat their posts over and over in the same thread (lack of intellectual integrity), or only post to have something to type to thread to correct trivial capitalization or grammar (poster egotism). Readers can see these trollish behaviors on this thread, right? I welcome 'issue' discussions. Interesting OPs speak on thread topic issues.... trolls speak drivel about people.
I would think IMDB posters here would already be sophisticated to know this important difference. Why do I have to clear this up for you? Schools out. BYE.

QUOTE- Millions dying, gased, maimed, homeless, and all; and they do this musical about the carnage. Yeh, I got the anti-war message, but I can also read about WW1's start. Which is cartoonishly little addressed by this film. BTW: See the BBc's docu-drama "37 Days".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3101352/combined
You'll be better served. (Have you seen it? I have. A better film about WW1. ) UNQUOTE

Three reasons for Internet bullying of others with public forum attacks: fear, ignorance and envy.

[–] valis1984 9 years ago

Is it two or three reasons for Internet bullying?
Some of your sentences are adorned with "quotation marks" e.g. "Sarcasm is the refuge of the simple mind" yet you fail to credit anyone for these.

"Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects". Will Rogers (1879-1935)

[–] Badgerman68 9 years ago

All the songs used in the film were popular songs of the time and with only a couple of exceptions (most notably 'I'll Make a Man of You') were sung by the soldiers who fought and died in the trenches. By performing the songs, the cast and crew are not disrespecting or mocking the soldiers' sacrifices, rather the film kept their voices alive and brought their story to the attention of a new generation. How is it inappropriate to do that?

Your other suggested incidents MiLai, Nazi camps, gulags, etc. did not, as far as I'm aware, have songs made by their participants as part of their historic legacy. This makes a very important difference; if the film had invented modern musical numbers to be performed alongside the terrors of trench warfare it would have been as inappropriate as doing so for any of the other tragedies named - but that clearly isn't the case.

I don't understand your comment about 'Hollywood Progressives propagandist drivel', as you correctly point out later, OWALW was a British movie. Whilst it was released during the Vietnam War, that is a coincidental issue as Britain only had a very minor involvement there; although I can appreciate how someone from a country more heavily involved could perceive it as being a reference to that conflict.

The dark humour and comedy displayed through the film is not a symptom of 'comic book roles' but is in fact a very natural thing to any Brits watching it. It works especially well as it's displayed by the working-class 'Tommies' who served in the trenches. The British working-class have a long standing view that 'you've got to laugh' when faced with adversity; this comes across in the irreverent lyrics of the songs.

The only part of the film I find in poor taste is the performance of the title track. 'Oh What a Lovely War' was very much a sarcastic song sung by the Tommies about their lives. By making it appear to relate to the officer class it detracts from the meaning of the song.

[–] bayblue71 9 years ago

The end part with 10000 of crosses says it all every war is pointless only cowards ie goverments send men to die Harry patch the last English Tommy from w1 said "war is just mass murder the war to end all wars what *beep* that was its anti war and its stands out as being a beautiful film

[–] sionxxii 8 years ago

Mook extrodinare!!