There are many movies about the history of World War II. It is a new perspective to combine the development history of Hollywood movies during World War II with the history of World War II. The documentary tells the legendary stories of five of the greatest directors in Hollywood history, who used film as a weapon to win World War II and change the history of film. Documentary provides a chronological index, clearly showing the impact of the war on the style of Hollywood cinema, and thus develops a new award - the Best Documentary Award. Cinema cameras turned to focus on the present, tracking major events that were documenting what was happening. The second highlight of the film is to invite five very accomplished directors today, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greengrass, Lawrence Kasdan interprets their predecessors, John Ford, Frank Capra, John Wheeler, John Huston and George Stevens, the famous directors of the 20th century. , use the director's eyes to analyze the director's works and the stories behind the works, vision and perspective, beyond the ordinary audience, there is no doubt that it is wonderful. During World War II, the U.S. government outsourced its war propaganda work to Hollywood – which was unimaginable at the time. The government allowed these famous Hollywood directors to freely enter and leave the war zone. They can be seen in almost every American battlefield. The imagery, which influenced the American public, formed a collective consensus that the United States was engaged in a just war. The war not only changed the filmmakers; the filmmakers, because of the war experience, changed the language and content of Hollywood films. The film uses many little-known details to show the real historical picture. Under the premise of propagating the war for the government, the Hollywood directors during the war had to accept the review and control of the military propaganda department. In order to make his work "The Battle of Midway" pass the censorship smoothly, John Ford specially added a close-up picture of President Roosevelt's son Jimmy Roosevelt. Knowing where the editing came from, in John Ford's own words: "All means are reasonable to ensure the sanctity of the work." That scene helped a lot. The Battle of Midway had a profound impact on the United States, bringing people closer to the war in one fell swoop. It was the first time Americans saw a war of color, and before that, movies were just about escapism, about fantasy, and it was the first time audiences saw America win. Yep, that's what really happened. The experiences of the five directors in a specific historical period have given us an in-depth understanding of the film industry, the essence of film production, and, from a broader perspective, the relationship between artistic creation and social needs. When John Wheeler was filming "House of Valor", the United States had not yet entered the war, and the military asked Wheeler not to slander the Germans in the film and make hate movies. Wheeler, himself a Jew, was very aware of Hitler's ambitions, so he insisted on telling the story from his own point of view, or refused to participate in the filmmaking. In the middle of the filming of "Home of Loyalty", the Pearl Harbor incident broke out, and Wheeler received a phone call from a military audit officer, "I've been thinking about what you said, maybe you're right, you just do it the way you want. "At the end of "Home of Loyalty", in a destroyed church, Wheeler addressed the audience directly, to the British audience, as if declaring determination, we will unite, we will fight to the end, until we win. The film was later screened in the UK, which greatly boosted the morale of the British people and temporarily won several Oscars that year. Filmmakers have always wanted to be in control of their own destiny, they don't want to be manipulated, they don't want to be told what to do, it's not easy, and Wheeler is lucky to have his work right at the right time. The social conscience of the time contributed. Of course, there are also examples of insisting on their own artistic propositions, but failing to be accepted by the market at that time. Frank Capra was a leading Hollywood figure before the war, from Sicily, Italy, when Italy was not yet seen as a mature country, so he was desperate to prove himself, to be loved and saved, it was about existence, not politics. The essence of Capra's films is always the question of value, the question of self-worth. In "What a Wonderful Life", the protagonist is a recognized loser who gets a chance to re-examine the world. What would the world be like without him? This is also Capra's true reflection on himself, "What would the world be like without me?" He excavated the most intimate and real feelings in his heart and presented them in the film. "What a Beautiful Life" redefined Capra and became the most important and powerful film in his creative career. Unfortunately, "What a Wonderful Life" not only failed at the box office, it was also not well received by critics. In the first moments of the war, people have gone through vicissitudes and do not need such serious and serious works. The public needs a breather to heal the wounds of the war. The failure of "What a Wonderful Life" forced Capra's film company to go out of business, and he himself has since stopped filming. More ironically, after a few years, "What a Beautiful Life" regained recognition and was regarded as a classic. Sigh. In the filming of documentaries, the use of simulated scenes instead of real scenes has been debated whether it will affect the authenticity of the documentaries. As the European battlefield draws to a close, Houston is ordered to travel to Italy to film the liberation of Italy. When they arrived at San Pietro, a small town at the mouth of the Lirie River Valley, the battle had ended a few days ago. At this time, the small town of San Pietro had been razed to the ground, and the corpses were everywhere. Houston decided that this was the only place left. The small town under the ruins simulates the liberation of the picture. Using various resources provided by the U.S. military, Houston carefully recreates the three-day siege of the city - "Battle of San Pietro". Houston is very smart, the details of the simulation shooting are very good, although the war is simulated, the pictures of dead soldiers are real. "Battle of San Pietro", the mixed image of simulation and reality, even fooled Spielberg's eyes, he said: I thought it was a real scene when I watched the movie, and it was a long time later that I learned that Houston simulated it. some parts. It was a little disappointing to find out that the picture wasn't real, but I also greatly respect the shock it gave the audience and me when I first saw the movie. Coppola said: I don't care whether these war scenes are real or simulated. Houston is a director and a playwright. What matters is what he creates. As long as the essence is captured, it doesn't matter whether it is real or not. In "War Photographers", when interviewing photographers who survived World War II, they complained about the pressure and trouble brought to their actual shooting by Houston's simulated war scenes. More ordinary war photographers can only record with the army. , when I photographed what was what, and could not hand over material that satisfied my superiors, I was speechless. Are there absolutely real images? Even if it is recorded in real, the angle and framing method of shooting will inevitably carry the photographer's subjective preference. The choice of material during editing is also based on the standard set by a certain story strategy. Having a standard means that it does not meet the requirements. The standard needs to be eliminated, and a series of artificial preferences have long caused the final image to deviate from the absolute reality. . In this sense, I think for the sake of the integrity of the story, it is understandable that the simulated part of the scene is mixed in the real record to make the story more convincing. Among the five directors, George Stevens had the most profound war experience and had the greatest impact on history. The war not only changed his life and thoughts, but also changed the style of his works. Before the war, he was making comedies. What he saw and heard in the Dachau concentration camp made him no longer able to make frivolous and funny comedies. Walking into Dachau concentration camp, Stevens intuitively realized that his task was no longer to make propaganda films or documentaries, but to use cameras to gather evidence. These images of the Dachau concentration camp became a key turning point in the interrogation of Nazi criminals in the future. Stevens said: "I can't believe that all the violence and evil that happened in the concentration camps was actually done by humans, and you can't help but think, what kind of world is this? What kind of beast are humans? How can we prevent ourselves from becoming like this? "It wasn't until we played Stevens' video of Dachau concentration camp that the Nazi brutality shook everyone's hearts," Capra said. Spielberg said: "It was then that people began to witness the real and brutal atrocities that Hitler planned to do and did in most of Eastern Europe. If the wartime war propaganda films give you a reason to join the army, the images in the concentration camps prove that the United States participated in the war and paid for everything it did to record the war was worth it. After the brutal baptism of war, everyone becomes different. Ford, who experienced the Normandy landing with the navy, began to drink heavily as soon as the war was over. He got himself drunk every day, and then began to make trouble. No one in the army could control him and had to send him back to the country. Shortly after the war, Ford founded the Field Camera Team House, a social club and rehabilitation center for his family, friends and men. Later, when Ford filmed "Blood in the Philippines," the entire film's production process was like a course of treatment, opening a long and slow way to explore the impact of the conflict on the United States. Ford's "Blood in the Philippines" made the audience think for the first time, what is the meaning of people's sacrifice of their lives? To make sure the new world is good and happy? Every person who comes back alive from the battlefield is greatly affected both physically and mentally. Some of these effects are physical disabilities, while others are reflected in the mind. Mental illnesses caused by war have not been fully taken seriously. In order to let the world see the trauma of the war experience, Houston filmed "God Said There Be Light". Follow a group of soldiers returning from the front line, from admission to discharge, through the process of psychological intervention. Without whitewashing, the film honestly shows them trapped in their own despair and Shocked. This is not good propaganda for the war and has been suppressed by the military. It wasn't until 1981, after 35 years of court battles with the government, that "God Said There Be Light" was released to the public, and today it is seen as a milestone. Wheeler's "Golden Age" focuses on the three veterans and the predicament they face when they return to civilian life. Back home, the war inside is their lingering haze. In their dreams and in their waking moments, In every decision they made, they remained entangled in the face of real-world conflict in postwar America. "The Golden Age" was hailed as a masterpiece of American social realism, became the second highest-grossing film in film history, and earned Wheeler a second Academy Award for Best Director. "What a Wonderful Life", produced by Capra after the war, has also been widely recognized decades later and has become an enduring classic. When receiving the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award, he said: Believe in yourself, because only the brave can create. Only bold people make movies. Only the truly brave and fearless are worthy of telling stories and truths to others in a two-hour dark space.
The war has rewritten their lives, and the war has also provided rich literacy for their film creation. With the right approach, a movie can affect many people. That's the power of movies.
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