The Danish film is called "Minefield". Unlike "Schindler's List", "Life is Beautiful" and "The Pianist" and other World War II-themed films, which directly show the ups and downs of the fate of individuals involved in the whirlpool of war, it cuts into the historical truth with a hidden edge, from a Unusual, small and subtle perspectives on World War II, reflecting on the trauma caused by the war. In this, it is similar to 2008's The Reader, both focusing on the antithesis of the victims—those Nazis encountered after the war. Whether it is the weak female guards in the concentration camps or the underages of the "Youth League" who are not familiar with the world, they used to be ordinary people, and the war forced them to choose the wrong direction in life.
On May 4, 1945, the German army that had occupied Denmark for five years surrendered. Five days later, Nazi Germany officially signed the instrument of unconditional surrender, ending the war in Europe. However, for some prisoners of war stranded in Denmark, their war had just begun. During the Nazi occupation, they planted more than 2.2 million landmines on the west coast to prevent Allied troops from landing on that coast. It is a pity that the Germans made the wrong abacus, and the Allied landing campaign chose Normandy, France. So the task of clearing mines naturally fell on the Nazi prisoners of war. From the Danes' point of view, you buried the mines with your own hands, and you dug them out yourself, as it should be. After a simple training session with the Danish army, the prisoners of war joined the dangerous "death operation".
Hermann Macklin, Rudolf Selke, Friedrich Schnur, Johann Wolff, August Krueger, Werner Lesnar, Ernst Leh Sner, William Leiburn, Ludwig Hank, Sebastian Schumann, Helmut Moorbach, these 11 captives were sent to a beach, where a man named Karl Under the supervision of Sergeant Major Leobold Rasmussen, they completed their last mission before returning home - clearing 45,000 mines. They hold the fuze in their hands, and they can't control when it explodes. The sergeant major promised that as long as these landmines can be successfully cleared, they can return to their hometown in Germany in three months at the earliest. With the feeling of returning to their hearts like arrows and their longing for their future life, they crawl on the beach and look for the traces of landmines.
Prisoners of war and officers, these two opposing camps, opened the door of understanding to each other in their daily interactions, and gradually merged into a collective. From several details, the inner transformation of the sergeant major can be seen. Instead of latching the doors of the dilapidated barn where the boys lived at night, he secretly brought food for the boys from the barracks kitchen. When the sergeant-major rescued a nearly insulted Ludwig from a brutish officer, Captain Eber Iwamori asked him why he was stealing food for the Germans? Don't remember what they did in the war? The Sergeant Major responded, the boys don't know what's going on, I need them. Not only did he need these boys to complete the task of clearing the mines, but he may also have compassion for them. The peasant woman and her daughter Elizabeth in the film also experienced subtle changes in their psychology. She was evading before, but then Elizabeth broke into the minefield by mistake, but the peasant woman took the initiative to ask for help. As the little girl was rescued by An Ran, presumably the grudge in her heart would slowly disappear. This may also represent the attitude of ordinary people towards these young prisoners of war after the war. Indeed, most of them were used as a reserve force to supplement the large number of casualties of the German army on the front line, and some of them were destroyed before they could go to the battlefield. The crimes of a few fanatics waging war cannot be entirely borne by these minors. As the German historian Friedrich Menik said in his book Holocaust in Germany, "We can say that Hitler came to power through a typical, but at the same time blind, youth movement. "At that time, the confused, impetuous, and rebellious spiritual world of German teenagers was captured by Nazi propaganda. They wanted to open up a new future and sacrificed their youth with their own hands.
If we put aside the historical background, if they are not facing a life-killing tool of war like landmines, we can regard them as engaging in a simple collective labor, and we can even capture a touch of warmth from the film. Nothing is more impressive than the football game on the beach. On a rare day off, they put aside their fears and worries, chased a self-made "football", ran as much as they could, cheered for a goal, and released their long-simmering suppressed emotions. At this time, this beach is no longer a dead area with dense mines, but a pure land that shows the goodness of human nature. Here, because of tolerance, understanding and trust, the struggle and the killing are gone.
Death is still coming. First William was blown off his arms and died, then the twin brothers, then the mine exploded while loading the car, killing 5 people, and finally only Ludwig, Helmut, Rudolf and Sebastian were left. Ann these 4 people. After the demining was over, the sergeant major's promise was not fulfilled as expected. Ludwig and the others were sent to the Skellingen Peninsula for demining. Knowing this result, the sergeant major and Captain Ebe broke out into a fierce conflict. At the end of the film, I don't know what means the sergeant major used, but the remaining 4 boys were withdrawn from the death line and sent to the border to their homeland Germany. Looking at their retreating backs, the sergeant major's face flashed a faint smile.
"Germany needs to be rebuilt, this is our task." This is the boy's new wish. When they got home, they wanted to be workers, cooks, and planned to start a family business; they wanted beer, food, and girlfriends, and they looked forward to a stable life. The war has taken away their youth and even their lives, but it cannot take away their beating hearts that yearn for a new life.
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