Category Archives: Movies

Enigma, a glimpse at WW2 code breakers

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Enigma is a 2001 British film about the Enigma codebreakers of Bletchley Park in World War II. The film, directed by Michael Apted, stars Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet. The film’s screenplay was by Tom Stoppard, based on the novel Enigma by Robert Harris.

Enigma is also the name of this fantastic and unique mechanical encryption machine crafted by the German to cypher their military communications during WW2. German HQ was using it globally, but more specifically to communicate with their submarine fleet in northern Atlantic, assigned to interdiction missions preventing US convoys to reach English shores. It took all the genius of several code breakers gathered in a top secret facility in North London to crack Enigma’s secrets, and to decipher German communications thanks to Alan Turing‘s thinking machines. The story of the English code breakers has been kept secret for more than 30 years after the war, and it’s fair to say that their contribution has been key in winning the War, and that their work has probably saved millions of human lives.

The movie is rather enjoyable and gives a good idea of the achievements of the Enigma code breakers.

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Guns of Navarone in a nutshell

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The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley Baker. The book and the film share the same basic plot: the efforts of an Allied commando team to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea, and prevents 2,000 isolated British troops from being rescued out of the Leros island. The movie won the following awards:

  • Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
  • Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score – Motion Picture
  • Academy Award Best Effects, Special Effects

It is a very good reminder of what was probably one of the latest crushing Axis victory on British forces, which were thrust in this Aegean campaign by a bold but isolated Churchill in 1943.

It’s also the enjoyable epic of a heroic commando assigned to an impossible mission set in very picturesque Agean Greek islands. It’s definitely worth giving another look, after all these years.

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Need a war movie? Look at War-Films.com!

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Wargamers come from different backgrounds, cultures, psychological profiles … but 2 drivers are uniting them all: Gaming and History! Actually, I even considered renaming this blog “The Historical Gamer” , as it might make a lot more sense, and I was pleased the other day to stumble upon this Facebook page titled “The Historical Boardgamer“.

Anyway, as for gaming, we have boards and computers indeed …. now for the historical part, it’s all about reading books and magazines … and watching movies or documentaries! In that regard we are living blessed times with unprecedented on demand offers at BBC, National Geographic and several other sources.

One of the best reference site I found is www.war-films.com, where you will appreciate the clean and simple classification by conflict and century or period of time. For instance, I was stunned to see how many movies about WWI I simply had never heard of. A good bookmark to keep at hand for aimless evenings.

Patton

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Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, who based their screenplay on the biography Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago and Omar Bradley’s memoir A Soldier’s Story. The film was shot in 65mm Dimension 150 by cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp, and has a music score by Jerry Goldsmith. Patton won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The opening monologue, delivered by George C. Scott as General Patton with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic and often quoted image in film. The film was a success and has become an American classic.

Patton speech: “How to win a war” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh9S1Hk975U

In North Africa, during Operation Torch, George Patton faced and defeated Erwin Rommel, one of his most respected opponent.

Although put aside from D-Day, he was a brilliant decoy in operation Fortitude, aiming at diverting German’s attention on Calais. Then he magnificently led a storming 3rd US Army from Normandy in Operation Overlord to the Bulge and the walls of Bastogne. Patton’s famous “Ivory handles”.

Another beautiful DVD Cover:

Platoon

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Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone’s Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989’s Born on the Fourth of July and 1993’s Heaven & Earth. Stone wrote the story based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, as a counter to the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne’s The Green Berets. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1986. In 2007, the American Film Institute placed Platoon at #83 in their “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies” poll. British television channel Channel 4 voted Platoon as the 6th greatest war film ever made, behind Full Metal Jacket and ahead of A Bridge Too Far.

Plot: In late 1967, Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young American who has abandoned college for combat duty in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he sees dead soldiers in body bags being loaded into his plane. Taylor and several other replacements have been assigned to Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, “somewhere near the Cambodian border”. Worn down by the exhausting heat and work and poor living conditions, his enthusiasm for the war wanes and he develops an admiration for the more experienced soldiers, despite their reluctance to extend their friendship.
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