The theme of the fourth episode is "Recruitment Supplement". Personally, I feel that it has a large span compared to the previous episode. However, since the whole drama is in chronological order, after the mission of the French campaign, the 101st Airborne Division did return to the rear. Participated in the "Market Garden" operation three months later. This episode describes the process of this battle to show the brotherhood of comrades in arms that was not obvious in the previous episodes. "Chinese Brothers" uses a completely fictional and plagiarized American drama "Brothers" to please the audience to tell the story of our own heroes. It is really goosebumps, especially when the heroes in the film shout together: Chinese brothers stick to it. Position!...I can't stand it anymore!).
Compared with the previous episodes, although it is placed in the context of the largest Dutch airborne operation, the technique is not very good. It feels a bit too straightforward and popular, without any gimmicks or anything that makes people feel good. This One point is particularly obvious in the plot arrangement and emotional settings. It can be seen that how to adjust the emotional line is the director’s weakness. For example, the protagonist in this episode is BULL, who lost contact with the troops in an encounter outside Eindhoven. The director only provided encounters with Dutch residents and hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier to reflect his spiritual qualities. First, it seemed too dramatic and heroic, and secondly, there were too many flaws. From beginning to end, the beautiful Dutch woman didn’t say a word. Say, we don't know what she wants to express, and the German soldier entered the house with three other people. Why didn't he return to the team and other people didn't come to him? Is there no brotherhood complex among Germans? At this point, it has almost obliterated the advantage of human care for the soldiers on both sides in the first two episodes, and has returned to the previous absolute subjectiveness and the common problem of clear enemy and friend.
The most famous film describing the action of "Market Garden" is "A Bridge Too Far". That film has become an excellent example of a world war movie. The scenes and overall awareness are hard to surpass for future generations. But logically speaking, the level of excitement before "Brothers" makes people feel that this failed strategic action will definitely be shown more real, at least the frustration spreads, that is, the director's success, but unfortunately we did not see this. Except for the tactical cooperation of the two sides embodied in the small town encounter that can make military fans happy, there is really not much left.
The only spots in this episode that are outstanding are the descriptions of the impact of war on civilians. The burdens and sensationalism here are done well. The first is that when the airborne troops entered the first Dutch town, they were welcomed by the residents, but at the same time During the German occupation, the "helicopter" who helped the Germans to do things were severely punished. The men who had cooperated with the Germans were shot to death, and the women were shaved to show the public. This is a nationalistic treatment for us. The behavior of the "scum" of one's own nation is more or less a question. On the one hand, it is the freedom advocated by Western society, and on the other hand, it is national righteousness. Many people insisted on national righteousness and became martyrs or heroes. More people chose to hide immediately. Be a spectator and give pointers in peacetime, and those who have not become these two types of people will naturally become the enemies that these two types of people want to kill. In the West, where freedom and humanistic care are paramount, in the 20th century, women’s hair will be shaved to show the public. It is not only to promote a sense of national justice, but also to show the extreme humanity of war. Distortion. This distortion does not happen to these "traitors", but to those who punish the "traitors". The Americans are stationed in the Netherlands and the director pretends to be sympathetic to these people as if they were a sacred army. He also vaguely accused people in the German-occupied areas of using children as guerrillas to send information. In the end, it showed that the US military is the regular army of the world police, and the world has to rely on them to liberate the mind. The second is more sensational, On the day of the stationing, three soldiers came to the houses to search for food to find a comfortable place to sleep. Suddenly a Dutchman who speaks English super fluently popped up with a child and brought out food very cleverly to please the Americans, a soldier named Lincoln. So he took out a piece of chocolate for the child to eat, and he was happy, and then this Lincoln died in the battle the next day. I really can’t say anything about this. This is a sensational approach that has been almost abused. Needless to say, it has once again deepened the image of the Americans, forgetting that the three of them were "searching" before. The third place I think is a good sensational point. On the way to Van Gogh’s hometown, the American soldier met a Dutch girl with a shaved head holding a child. Everyone knew what happened to her. What, in front of the tank and the soldiers, the small contrast of the civilian image seemed extremely strong, and at this time, when the soldiers took out the rations and handed them to her, it really made people feel warm. The pair of NEUNEN women who appeared in the fourth place was too burdensome, and I couldn't bear to elaborate.
In the NEUNEN encounter, the director used cool crossing and following shots to show the tactical cooperation of the US airborne troops. This is the first military action film to make the battle scene full of violence and no drama. Appears to be visible and is based on authenticity. After the offensive and retreat, the American soldiers showed their unhurried and orderly training. This is based on historical facts, and the director clearly grasped it. To this point.
Another thing that impresses me is the use of music in this episode. At the beginning, there are two places where the string concertos are soothing but not easy. One is the reappearance of the annoying SOBO in the first episode. The director used frequent montage editing and long-camera motions to express the surprise and sigh of the soldiers and SOBO when they met again. This encounter is different from the previous impeachment. The paratroopers who have experienced the fierce battle in Normandy are in the bottom of their hearts. Thank this person for being strict with their perverts, otherwise there is no need for SOBO to appear again. The screenwriter can kill him directly and indirectly, such as training accidents, but it is very important to place him in the place where the recruits appear. One point is to highlight the relationship between the two layers of "alternation between old and new"; another wonderful use of music is the scene of paratroopers in the air. The paratroopers falling all over the sky and the C-47 whizzing by are originally very serious scenes. With almost dance-like string music, it suddenly presents a sense of beauty, full of the breath of "war art", which is a very popular experiment.
I used to watch "Brothers", this episode is the most watched, because this episode can see relatively regular encounters that are not common in war movies and TV dramas, and there are a large number of Sherman, Churchill, Tiger, Cheetah tanks and armored vehicles appearing, but As far as a series is appreciated by the public and art film critics, the fourth episode is not a success in making a good series with good themes.
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