World War II caused nearly 60 million deaths, of which 6 million were Jews, and Germany also paid the price of 8 million lives... These figures only show the scale of the disaster, and they have a calm and objective meaning. But in the face of death, being calm and objective is meaningless.
There have been many movies on the theme of World War II, describing, discussing, and reflecting on the disaster, but most of them have similar moral perspectives. Anti-Nazi and anti-fascism are the main tone. This kind of rebellion is of course understandable and correct, but there are more stances of good and evil that occur temporarily and at any time, and the resulting horror and death. Therefore, looking at history requires more perspectives based on real details.
The Danish film "Minefields" provides such a perspective. The story background of the film is the historical facts of the German captured by the Danish coastline for demining. The protagonist is the Danish military officer Carl. He beat German prisoners of war at the beginning of the movie. This is a manifestation of anti-Nazism and hatred of great evil, and is also a typical of the aforementioned "big tone".
Carl is responsible for controlling a small group of German prisoners of war to clear mines in his area. These captives were all teenagers (at the end of World War II, Germany had no adults to fill the army and could only recruit a large number of young soldiers), and Karl was full of hatred and strict discipline towards them at the beginning. With the progress of mine clearance, the young prisoners of war died one by one in starvation and explosion accidents. At the same time, they also died with their simple and beautiful desire to return to the country to rebuild their homes and return to their daily lives.
Death occurred repeatedly in front of Karl. The fear, pain, and despair of the teenagers in front of death gradually constructed a new, more real and tangible state of tragedy. In this state, Karl returned to humanity. In natural compassion and kindness, he stole bread for the teenagers, lifted their imprisonment on the door, played football with them on the beach, shielded them in front of superior officers, and so on.
Carl gradually became sober and realized that the huge evil deeds were caused by the huge system. Whether it was the aggressor or the anti-aggressor, they showed the same evil in the hatred. Whether it was a German soldier or a Danish soldier, they all had it in the huge system. The helpless situation of the same individual. Corresponding to this, people should also have the same unbiased goodness.
At the end of the film, Carl violated the military order and smuggled the surviving teenagers without authorization, sending them to the border, letting them escape from Denmark and return to Germany. Carl no longer believes in the simple, rude and personal notion that "the Germans plant landmines, and the Germans should remove them by themselves". He has gone from a hateful officer to a compassionate tolerant. It is the universal morality that is hidden in the folds of the great waves of history and needs to be rediscovered.
Perhaps only unbiased goodness can truly eliminate the opportunity for great evil. This is the movie "Minefield" that provides us with new and valuable perspectives.
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