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Reviews
Our World War (2014)
Mons... a humiliation - really BBC?
This is exactly why the BBC shouldn't be making programmes like this. The idea is to instill a bit of pride as well as remembrance in what our forefathers faced and dealt with.
The BEF circa 1914 was not an army designed to fight large scale continental battles, it was designed to police a VAST Empire where in individual field craft and ability played a far larger role than the blunderbuss approach of the continental system (mass conscription).
The BEF was meant as an auxiliary, almost, to the MUCH larger French Army on it's right flank. Like in 1940, the rapid collapse of the French inevitably put the much smaller BEF in a precarious position. The Germans swamped the British position at Mons but were stopped directly in their tracks.
The British Army was seen as inconsequential by the Germans due to it's size and ordnance but the battle at Mons had quickly made it clear to the them (they lost upwards of 6 men to every one of ours) that they had been roundly beaten and had missed their chance to wrap up the French army in its entirety.
Thanks to the stand at Mons, the French were able to consolidate their withdrawal (after the French 5th Army randomly decided to rout) which allowed for the counter attack at the battle of the Marne.
As for the programme itself... average.
Rebels and Redcoats (2003)
A reverse of the story for once.
This documentary made its appearance on British television screens 4 years ago and provides a LONG over due reverse history study of the American War of 1775 -1783. American reviews often don't know where to go with this one because it goes against a lot of what is staple in their education system. Richard Holmes, as always, is informative and interesting and often gets hands on and practical with the battlefields. Interestingly, a lot of his motivation for making this was triggered after watching 'The Patriot', so appalled was he of the historical butchering that the film made he even helped in the publication of a book by the same name.
This is a much needed educational history of the war, particularly for anyone British, who knows nothing of it but the rough and sorely one-sided American accounts that are about as easy to believe as a snake flying.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
The Director
Peter Weir is the director of this film but 20 years prior he directed a film called 'Gallipoli' which was staunchly Anglo-phobic. The film portrays an Englishman ordering the suicidal attacks on the Turkish machine guns when in fact history shows the man ordering the charges was an Australian. Weir was a nationalist in Australia, a proper left winger yet we see him here in M&C praising England/Britain for their fine seamanship and esprit De corps...
I wonder why he would do this; the ageing process made him see sense perhaps? :P
9 9 99 9 99 9
Snakes on a Plane (2006)
Yet again, an English person as the whingy idiot.
Why oh why does Hollywood consistently make the English look crap. In this film we see an Englishman as a whingy, angry, grumpy man with little regard for other people. English people have what is known as a stiff upper lip, what this means is that they have self-restraint (i.e. they don't complain out-loud). What is it with this 'whingy and annoying' stereotype, it makes no sense because English people, on the whole, are nothing like that. I can't tell you how many Americans I've seen whinging and complaining about stuff but I have perhaps seen maybe one English person make a complaint in public and I live in the damn country.
Of course this guy ends up with the worst death, aka, being eaten alive.
America/Hollywood, please learn, don't make films that portray other nationalities in a bad light.