I recently watched this whole series on DVD with English subtitles (which were occasionally hilariously wrong e.g "higher" instead of "hire"). I loved it and thought it stood up there with both serious war dramas like Private Ryan and action films like "The Guns of Navarone". But I honestly did not detect any hint of pro-Communist messages. What am I missing?
shareWell,
the red army (soviets) are shown as good guys only, right? That's not entarly true. Thay had a pact w/Hitler and attacked Poland in 1939. There is no AK army in the movie, because it was anticommunist, the army before WWII. There is a lot, but I still like it v.much.
Bogdan
I agree that the RUSSIANS are shown positively, but I don't see any COMMUNIST propaganda in the show. I think there's a big difference between positive images of Russian soldiers and actively promoting the Communist government or political philosophy.
In fact the only philosophy that is actively promoted in the series seems to be a love of the Polish homeland, Polish people, Polish culture and Polish traditions. And the most heroic and noble acts are performed by the show's Polish heroes. That's nothing unusual in Polish film and literature. It's something that Poles had to fight for for over 150 years.
Well, the positive (even unblemished) image of the Soviet Army - it is a part of the communist propaganda. An image that has nothing in common with the historical truth. Even though the Soviets drove away the Germans, they were often viewed as another occupant rather than liberator.
That's not all. The dog's name 'Sharik' is a Russian name... and the dog barks with a typical soviet accent. That's why the movie has recently been banned, probably for good.
Szarik is a russian name, it's true. But he was born on Syberia so it's normal. TV Series is banned in public TV only. Now we can watch it in "Kino Polska" with documentaries before episodes. In Documentary they told that for example, it was so popular, that on the meetings with cast and crew football stadiums were full of people. And on Piotrowska Street in Lodz there were about 100.000 of fans. Russian army is nice and it's true, but i've noticed only one moment od clear propaganda. In second episode somebody is screaming "for a friendship with Soviet Union". But:
- in the book was not Olgierd Jarosz, but Wasyl Semen and he was russian (comission wanted to change nationality in TV Series)
- the same situation with Colonel. In novel he was Russian
- Russian soldiers are drinking (episode 3)
etc.
Sorry for mistakes.
Well...being a huge fan of the movie I can't tell any negative on it. There is a proverb that sounds like "True Pig will always find a dirt" even it doesn't exist...in the case of "Pancerni.." I would suggest to forget all *beep* between USSR and Poland and to watch it as is for the movie itself is hilarious. It has its very own "taste" which is (IMO!) a rare thing in Polish cinematography.
regarding pro-Communist things...well....please don't forget WHEN this movie was created!
So again - my opinion is to watch "Czterej Pancerni i Pies" as is and enjoy it for the movie itself (even if it is incorrect historically) delivers POSITIVE EMOTIONS which is damn rare nowdays.
I remember clearly in one episode the crew was picking up radio signals of POLISH radio and since it was a war time it was a very joyful moment, but the radio message was about 'Our Capitol MOSCOW..." which is a hint of propaganda since Polish capital was WARSAW and never ever MOSCOW was or will be. Its subtle propaganda and the series is full of it.
shareThe show was excellent. I was born and raised Polish so my parents introduced early to this series and I own two separate DVD versions of the show (one i got as a gift) and I watch at least once a year.
There is propaganda in this show. USSR and Poland may have cooperated in the road to Berlin which is the main plot of show, it probably wasnt anywhere near that friendly as portrayed in the show. Communist control gripped Poland hard and wasn't released until the Solidarity Movement. (some say it makes no difference as former Communist party members still occupy the top positions in the Polish government.)
If you want a more accurate depiction of the Polish-Soviet relationship, then please find the movie "Katyn" a recent big-budget production made in Poland on the anniversary of the events that unfolded. I will not reveal the plot, just say that propaganda shown in "Four Tankmen" was designed to cover up the stone cold truth and facts of Katyn and how well indeed the Soviet and Poles lived together during and after World War II.
For a quick summary of this movie (which I extremely recommend to anyone interested in the history and time period)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_%28film%29
- imagine the final scenes of "Four Tankmen" and then go and see "Katyn". One disturbing thing that caught me is that these could have been chronologically how the events unfolded in real life. The fight together during the war all the way to the fall of Berlin, and the events that followed right after.
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I think you have mixed up something. The fragment (from the second episode) is radio Moscow informing that Lublin and Chelm were liberated and it says something like "Our capital Moscow sends greetings to (the citizens of Chelm and Lublin - this is in the background so I'm not sure about this part) as well as troops of the First Belorussian Front and soldiers of the First Polish Army". There is nothing in the movie suggesting that Moscow is the capital of Poland.
shareI agree with you completely. There's no significant pro-Communist propaganda in this series at all, but rather pro-Soviet one. Unfortunately, some people confuse the two.
shareAt the time it was created... it was really the same. The whole series was used in communist propaganda in Poland.
The knowledge about Katyn was not big and telling the truth about it could cost you a lot. As part of it, that movie tried to show how the great they were. To show that they had to lie.
I don't think one can say that the movie is a communist propaganda. It's not. But the producers definitely had to take into the consideration the censorship at that time.
shareToday you can consider this series as a S-F one, about friendship etc. etc. but at the time, when you could not learn and say about the truth, it was definitely used in the communist propaganda...
shareLike what? The collective agriculture was being propagated or what?
I can see some propaganda there, just like in many US movies showing how wonderful the Navy is, or how great CIS agents are. I'm just not sure that the propaganda in the movie is specifically communist.
And I don't think it is sci-fi. I have not noticed a single sci-fi element in the movie. It's more like Sienkiewicz and his Tilogy. It's historical, based on some historical facts, but not showing the whole truth. On the other hand, there are hints of different problems.
Well, I am sure it is communist propaganda, it shows hardly any truth and it is hard to call it historical except there was IIWW and Germans were the bad guys.
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