Ok this could be the stupidest question ever...
But why is the most amazing scene supposedly in the film in Subtitles? to make it more realistic? As the rest of the film is in English yes? or have i just seen a different version? x
shareBecause the movie was made in those ancient ages when people were allowed to speak different languages, and even American movies accepted this fact. Today all Chinese peasants, natives in Amazone jungle, Arab fundamentalists and Ukrainian miners talk English with their friends, even sing lullabies to their children in English with Californian accent. And, certainly, all ants, bees, cows, cats, dogs and aliens from all over the Universe talk perfect English as well.
This movie contains many scenes where different languages are used, not only the one that you mention. And when I've recently seen it for the first time (my big failure) I felt as if I entered a parallel universe, something like watching The Deer Hunter or Gates of Heaven. But no heaven from American movies any more... These movies have been made in the years when Americans still knew how to read, so subtitles didn't seem to be a problem.
.........The strange thing is I don't recall any subtitles on the version I watched. I had read Williams Styron's "Sophie's Choice" years before I watch the movie so I knew what was happening. Maybe I was too much into the drama of the scene to notice the subtitles or HBO messed up somehow.
I'm not Spartacus. The dude over there in the sandals who looks like Kirk Douglas is.
Movies have strange destinies. It is not impossible that HBO or any other network decided to follow TV fashion and dubbed the movie, as they do to any foreign language movie, and removed the subtitles. TV networks have decades ago stopped taking care for the integrity of art (cutting, dubbing, breaking with commercials, removing the credits...) and even movie studios add their share by releasing different versions or painting b/w movies.
As I live in Europe, we had subtitles during whole movie, but the scenes from Poland were definitely spoken in Polish in the version that I've recently seen. I remember it for sure, because a question appeared in my mind how many different nations and languages characters did Meryl play in her career so far.
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Pzrgzr's tone was condescending as hell, but he had a point. As for ahope, come on, man. Who are you, Sean *beep* Hannity? Why are you using the guy's nationality and the fact that he's a dick as an excuse to go on some *beep* John Wayne tirade? You just sound like a moron who's intimidated by a creep who thinks he's special. You want to argue with him, fine, but why insult the dude's whole country?
shareThank's for defending my nation and my country. We are not used to it, so we can appreciate it a lot.
Now, I'd like to explain the one possibly offending sentence, mentioning the time when Americans still knew to read. Some Americans who don't read between the lines might really find it to be an insult. However, it is not addressed to American people but to those people in their country who want them to become illiterate, ignorant, and (what's most ridiculous) either want other nations to think that American people are morons, or just don't care what anybody thinks.
If you make movies that are so vain, so brain insulting as so many Hollywood movies are, you are responsible for your nation cultural decline. It is not limited to Hollywood or USA, I am insulted by the way how my national TV network treats me and my nation.
If some country decides to use dubbing instead of subtitles, it is very disappointing, it is damaging the piece of art, but many countries (unfortunately) do it. The problem appears when movie shows characters that belong to different nations, who would in reality talk in different languages. If they all talk the same language we can't tell if they talk their languages (and maybe don't understand each other) or they all really talk one - in this case English - language; and this is not only illogical, but aggravates the following of the plot. E.g., in "Sofie's Choice", if Sofie, Polish prisoners and Nazis were talking in English, how would you know if they understood each other? You wouldn't know if Sofie knew German when talking to Nazi officer, of the German girl. And the information that she, and how good she knew the languages has a big meaning to the plot, to understanding her as a person and her behaving.
Or, imagine how serious would a scene look if some Vietcong soldiers capture Americans and talk to them in Vietnamese in reality, but the producers make them talk English. American soldiers couldn't understand them in reality, so one of them might ask his friend "What the hell ate they talking about?". If everything was said in English, this dramatic scene could become a joke and damage the whole mood of the movie, make a war drama look like a comedy.
But it seems that American producers don't underestimate their own audience, their own nation, and think that they are unable to read subtitles. I think this is bigger insult that any foreigner like me can ever make.
'But it seems that American producers don't underestimate their own audience, their own nation, and think that they are unable to read subtitles. I think this is bigger insult that any foreigner like me can ever make.'
You've hit bull's eye! I agree with what you said.
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No ahope-3, I have to agree with przgzr.
He has a point.
You are in the wrong.
Hm... I vividly seem to remember American government had serious trouble even cleaning up after their own tornado-induced mess back in 2005...
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan