The Projectors

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

No shortage of atrocities in this month’s theme we’re calling GLORY & PROPAGANDA and so we dive into another brutal event in a movie that presents itself in an animated hybrid documentary style. Israeli media, and US media for that matter, doesn’t often show its military actions in such a straightforward, yet resentful, manner but the Sabra and Shatila Massacre committed by the Philangist forces under the support of the IDF is a particularly challenging event to deny. Don’t worry though, the defense minister that oversaw the mass murder of over 2,000 Palestinians and Shia Lebanese was forced to step down…and later became the fucking Prime Minister of Israel. Truly that seems like more accountability than we’re seeing from that country today. Ari Folman’s 2008 film “WALTZ WITH BASHIR” is an animated personal account of his time as a soldier in Beirut in the Lebanese War and his journey, after the fact, to piece together the trauma his mind would rather forget. A dreamy feature animated in that “motion comic” style, this unique film was quite gushed over in its time. How does this film hold up today as new horrors rage along that unfortunate part of the Mediterranean? It’s certainly worthy in its educational factor and is likely many western people’s introduction to the existence of the massacre it covers. Hear us tell of it.
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M*A*S*H (1970)

For GLORY & PROPAGANDA this month we already discussed a Vietnam war movie but why not discuss a Korean War movie that is pretty much about the Vietnam War? Today’s discussion is amongst our most comical this month and it’s a film that got passed on by a lot of directors until one particular man took the reigns and established, from this point on, a very prolific and influential style. Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H” was a such surprise hit in 1970 that it inspired a very successful television show that ran for 11 seasons. It also likely inspired many crude comedies in its wake with far less depth. Crude as it may be, it’s a different kind of war movie but no less bloody. Even if you don’t think some of the humor holds up nothing remains more offensive than a seeing a man die on an operating table during war. This movie also helped launch the careers of Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall and many more. Three army surgeons seem to run amok but what can the army do about it? It’s not like good surgeons are falling out of the trees two miles from the front lines of the Korean War. Now cue that depressing song. 
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Paths of Glory (1957)

We’re approaching the end of July’s theme of GLORY & PROPAGANDA. How appropriate that this month has men carrying guns in every discussion. When you’re a French solider in “The Great War” you gotta keep your head on a swivel, even in them trenches. Then you got these shithead commanding officers who seem to want to throw you on the meat pile quickly. Displays of common sense might seem like cowardice to the guy who doesn’t have to do the bullshit he commands you to do. Is there justice? Perhaps a dramatic turn of events that saves the lives of brave soldiers? Don’t expect that here. People got brass buttons they want to get. Once again, we discuss a Stanley Kubrick feature., the 1957 anti-war film “PATHS OF GLORY” starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, & George Macready. Maybe not the first Kubrick war film you think of but one that is just as essential to the history of war on film. You know we got a link: https://archive.org/details/pathsofglory1957_201908
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Jarhead (2005)

GLORY & PROPAGANDA means war movies all month long and there isn’t very many war flicks about the first gulf war. “Three Kings” is one you might think of immediately. On the other hand it’s an interesting thing to capture the mundanity of a particular conflict and during that first gulf war in 1990, a lot of soldiers charged up without seeing quite as much action as they prepared for. I mean, shit got hot but folks were more like to be accidentally bombed by their own countrymen than getting it from an Iraqi in a hand-me-down Russian tank. Today we discuss the mundanity of militarism in this adaptation of Anthony Swofford’s Marine memoirs, the 2005 film “JARHEAD” directed by Sam Mendes and Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx. A unique war film that was released during the actions of a war that you could say was the sequel to the war presented here. A sequel that was considerably more destructive and withstanding. What’s it like to get trained to be an elite killer and then get completely blue-balled out of killing? Makes you kinda feel like one of those trained killer whales at Sea World. I don’t blame whales for attacking us. We’ve had it too good. Will these boys finally “get some” or will the only people “getting some” be their wives and girlfriends back home getting railed by some Jody college boys? When you gotta be with the boys you might as well be gay. Put that sentence in a recruitment commercial. 
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Starship Troopers (1997)

For the war movies we’re discussing in this month’s theme that we’re calling “GLORY & PROPAGANDA” one person’s inspiring tale of right and might can be, to another person, a study in the horrors of power and supremacy. We’re studying all types this month in war film but the undertones of this cult hit from 1997 seems to skirt by some to this very day. Allegedly the novel’s tone is different but this film adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s “STARSHIP TROOPERS” from 1997 definitely hits more onto the satirical side. Maybe having Doogie Houser walking around dressed like a nazi near the end will help clue you in just in case you missed it up to that point. We’re killing bugs, soldier. If they weren’t evil then why do they look like that? If they weren’t evil then why are they fighting back after we attacked them? We can’t be the bad guys when we have communal showers, right? The director of this future flung war film, the legendary Paul Verhoeven, is certainly no stranger to showcasing the cartoonish extremities of exceptionalism and authoritarianism. Starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris and Jake Busey. Written by Edward Neumeier. Effects by the legendary Phil Tippett. The latter two have worked with  Paul Verhoeven before and you got to admire the cinematic creativity these guys bring to the table. We will be discussing them again very soon. Here’s a link we found to this 90s classic: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8qv35h
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The Battle of Algiers (1967)

CORRECTION: This film is based on the writings of Saddi Yacef NOT Franco Solinas the screenwriter.
It’s GLORY & PROPAGANDA all month for our theme and let me ask you a question…are you ready for a revolution? Our covid stricken hosts discuss one of the most realistic war films ever made and the reverberations of the conflict it depicts resonates soundly on screen because the movie about the conflict is only about 5 years removed from the end of the conflict itself and it’s all filmed exactly where it all happened. France occupied what was once called “French Algeria” for 130 years until the National Liberation Front patiently pushed back against their European colonizers and got their independence from France in 1962. Based on the writings of Saddi Yacef, this movie features many people who were actually involved in the actual conflict. With the assist of Italian productions and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, a revolutionary war film was made that was so realistic that you often couldn’t be too sure that you were watching news reels. It’s all recreated masterfully. We’re talking the 1967 film “THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS” starring Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin & Saddi Yacef. You’ll never see a war movie quite like this one. Here’s a link to the film but it can also be streamed on MAX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpn4Htfrv88
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Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

War movies are happening all month in a theme we call GLORY & PROPAGANDA and we wrap up WW2 week with a tearjerker anime. You can call what the U.S. did in Japan brutal, we won’t deny that, but boy did all that bombing inspire some great film art. Bob’s grandfather was escorting oil tankers coming from South America on a Navy ship during this time so you can’t blame him for what happened to these kid’s mother. Blame Truman. We’re looming near the end of the war in the Pacific and Japan is struggling hard between firebombings and food shortages. A brother and his little sister, newly orphaned, must go and make their way in a stressed village. They have an aunt there but she kinda sucks. This brother would do anything for his sister, stubbornly so, but a 14 year old boy with a big heart for his sibling may not be enough to succeed in this harsh reality. We’re discussing Isao Takahata’s anime adaptation of Akiyuki Osaka’s short story ‘GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES” from 1988. Spirits of hard times run restless but at least they aren’t alone. 
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City of Life and Death (2009)

WARNING: A LOT OF TALK ABOUT SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND GENERAL INHUMANITY. Shit can get rough during wartime. Cruelty can rear its ugly head and we get a lot of that during our war-movie themed month we’re calling GLORY & PROPAGANDA. This week is WW2 week. The Second Sino-Japanese War probably would have happened anyway, regardless of the rest of the world’s troubles, but it was on the footsteps and an essential part of how ever-present troubles were across the globe leading up to the Second World War. It was the Fourth of July last week and China gives us a big assist with their amazing explosives that we blow up, so this month let’s talk about a Chinese movie about an infamous event that the Japanese don’t talk much about in their media. We’re talking about the Siege and Rape of Nanking as depicted in Lu Chuan’s 2009 film “CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH” also called “NANKING! NANKING!”. What is interesting about Chuan’s epic of atrocity is that he manages to depict humanity even amongst the Japanese. Sergeant Kadokawa is not enjoying the abject horror his fellow soldiers are committing on prisoners or civilians. The remaining Chinese citizens are struggling to survive what may not be survivable. This movie is pretty hard to watch but if you read a little bit on this actual history then you realize how much harder it could have gone. Then there’s a beat near the end that you can shake your sweet ass to. Here’s a link with English subs we found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx_ervF7h7w
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Inglourious Basterds (2009)

July is GLORY & PROPAGANDA!!! That means war movies all month long and we’re in the middle of WW2 week with our very first Quentin Tarantino film discussion that was very likely inspired by our Monday selection “The Dirty Dozen”, episode out now! There’s some genuine horror this month but Tarantino finds ways to use violence in a weirdly cathartic way. Comeuppance is a universal theme in Tarantino movies and it’s plentiful here. This war movie is brutally funny at times and pays sincere homage to American, French and German cinema history. We’re talking about INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS from 2009 starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Michael Fassbinder, Diane Kruger and many more. Would you burn the one thing you love the most left in this world to destroy Hitler and Goebbels? We’re talking your own independent movie theater, film nerd. Your own special movie theater where you can play “Freddy Got Fingered” anytime you want. Would you burn that to kill Hitler? Here’s a link we found that will probably be a dead link soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-WxuM-gFwE
 
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Come and See (1985)

This month is GLORY & PROPAGANDA for our theme. It’s WW 2 week and we’re all over the globe. Western exceptionalism may downplay Soviet contributions to art but they made some pretty fantastic movies once they made it out of very drawn out review processes. One such movie was held for seven years and, somehow, no changes were made except to the title of the film. “KILL HITLER” would have been a pretty cool title for this movie but the book of Revelations seemed like more worthy inspiration for a story about an enthusiastic Belarussian boy who wants to join his countrymen against the Nazi threat but finds absolute horrors all along the way. “COME AND SEE” released in 1985, directed by Elem Klimov and starring a 14-year-old Aleksei Kravchenko is one of the most stark, surreal and savage anti-war movies of all time. A testament to what filmmaking can do and what it can represent from the images you see to the sounds that you hear. The most brutal moments are reflected not in literal representation but through the terror of those experiencing and observing it. Highly recommended for those who want to get into the art of filmmaking and to fans of good ass movies no matter what they are. Yes, we found a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjIiApN6cfg
 
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