Incredible WWI documentary coming...

I find documentaries to be my favorites. This one may not actually be considered a documentary, per se, but will surely be a fascinating film to watch.

I watch a lot of documentaries on WWII. I will admit that the entire Nazi Germany things fascinates me in many ways. What drives a man (Hitler) to such hatred? How could an entire nation follow that ideology? How can human beings, in general, treat each other the way they did? I watch with a morbid fascination, and try to get a sense of some of the possible answers.

As you stated, WWI is a whole 'nuther thing. What little I have read or watched regarding it is equally fascinating, and I can see myself looking into it more.
Did you ever read Nazi Oaks? By Mark Musser? He’s from your area. He documents a green movement in Germany that fascinatingly lead to the Holocaust as an oft missed major contribution to Nazi ideology
 
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Did you ever read Nazi Oaks? By Mark Musser? He’s from your area. He documents a green movement in Germany that fascinatingly lead to the Holocaust as an oft missed major contribution to Nazi ideology
I have not. I'll be sure and look into it, though. Thanks, @JMT! So many good recommendations on this thread that I may have to print it all out! :thumbsup:
 
So, I just got back from watching the film "They Shall Not Grow Old", and I have to say, it was incredibly well done. There were two things very striking about it for me and my co-worker who saw it with me.

First, the age of the boys signing up to fight. The entire story was told by actual WWI veterans from audio interviews they did back in the '50s and '60s. Many of them were signing up at the age of fifteen, with one doing so at the age of fourteen! They would say "I'll be sixteen in three months", and the guying signing him in would say "You mean you'll be nineteen in three months" (the actual age of admission, though eighteen was "acceptable"). Apparently, that happened a lot in Britain.

Secondly, the soldiers returning home met with an almost total disinterest from the civilian population in what they had experienced. They also encountered establishments that refused to hire veterans from the war. And there were a number of other things touched upon that made my friend and I both immediately see the parallels between them and what many Vietnam veterans experienced upon returning home. It was a shocking thing to hear from some very elderly gentleman about a very different time. Very moving, indeed.

I happened to be sitting next to a rather attractive young lady who was there with her somewhat elderly father. I by chance asked her where they had heard about the film, and she mentioned a podcast by Dan Carlin called Hardcore History. I recognized this as the very thing @Jack72 had mentioned in a previous post. My friend and I will both be looking into that...

Anyways, I hope some of you got a chance to see it tonight, or catch it on the only other day it will be shown in the US, which is December 27. Look into it. You won't be disappointed.
I'll have to see if I can catch it on the 27th. Does sound similar to the Vietnam war.
 
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I'll have to see if I can catch it on the 27th. Does sound similar to the Vietnam war.
The entire film was done from the point of view of a soldier in the trenches at the Western Front. And yes, the ending statements made by some regarding their returning home was a real eye opener. I never once considered that a soldier from that era would ever experience the same kind of bs that a soldier from 50+ years later would experience upon returning home. I guess society hasn't changed much, in that regard...
 
The entire film was done from the point of view of a soldier in the trenches at the Western Front. And yes, the ending statements made by some regarding their returning home was a real eye opener. I never once considered that a soldier from that era would ever experience the same kind of bs that a soldier from 50+ years later would experience upon returning home. I guess society hasn't changed much, in that regard...
Doesn't sound like it changed much. We looked down upon when returning from Vietnam.
 
Doesn't sound like it changed much. We looked down upon when returning from Vietnam.
I know. That's why the words of the WWI veterans hit me so hard. Regardless of the era, or the war, it wasn't right what the vets had to go through. But I guess I'm preaching to the choir, huh, @lowranger ?

I truly hope you get the opportunity to see this film.
 
The entire film was done from the point of view of a soldier in the trenches at the Western Front. And yes, the ending statements made by some regarding their returning home was a real eye opener. I never once considered that a soldier from that era would ever experience the same kind of bs that a soldier from 50+ years later would experience upon returning home. I guess society hasn't changed much, in that regard...
And to think that WWII was not nearly as politicized as Vietnam. I always thought that and the fact the media showed clips of Vietnam on TV were what made people back home so opposed to the war. They didn’t have that during WWII. What do you think?
 
I'm not a veteran, so I will not pretend to have any first-hand knowledge of what any of the men and women who served on any front experienced at home, or abroad. From what I understand from reading on the subject, WWI was not met with a bunch of opposition in Britain. It was deemed a "necessary" war. It was thought by many to be a war that would be fought in a traditional "swords and sabers" fashion. It was not. It was the beginning of mechanized warfare. It also introduced chemical weapons, such as mustard gas. While the soldiers experienced this, the civilian population generally had no real idea of it and its consequences, and believed the returning soldiers to be embellishing their stories, to some degree. As for the notion of not hiring former servicemen, I've not read up on that aspect of things, yet.

WWII is widely considered the last war that garnered almost universal support. The United States, while supporting their allies in many ways, stayed out of the actual fighting for quite a while. The sentiment here was that there was no need for us to be involved in a war so far removed (geographically) from the American population. That, of course, was forever changed on Dec. 7, 1941, with the U.S. officially entering the war the following day.

As for Vietnam, we have enough veterans on this forum who know far better than I, and all too well, what was going on, and out of respect, I will not speak for them. I am not qualified to do so. I will only say that I am ashamed of the way they were treated when returning home...
 
My wife and I went to see it. Honestly, I thought she would hate it. Like me, she really liked it. It was very well done. I'm not a vet but, also saw the parallels our vets suffered coming home from Vietnam. If anyone goes to see it, make sure you stay for the 1/2 hour bit after the credits where they talk about the making of it. Fascinating. Bringing in lip readers to know what was being said by the people on the film, since it was silent in the day. How they had to adjust the frames per second on all of the film clips, since they were hand run cameras. And the way they colored the film. They really went after the details making the film. It was great.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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My wife and I went to see it. Honestly, I thought she would hate it. Like me, she really liked it. It was very well done. I'm not a vet but, also saw the parallels our vets suffered coming home from Vietnam. If anyone goes to see it, make sure you stay for the 1/2 hour bit after the credits where they talk about the making of it. Fascinating. Bringing in lip readers to know what was being said by the people on the film, since it was silent in the day. How they had to adjust the frames per second on all of the film clips, since they were hand run cameras. And the way they colored the film. They really went after the details making the film. It was great.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Really glad someone here got to see it! I was impressed with it, as well. And did you see some of the faces? My God, they were nothing more than kids!

Btw, thanks for mentioning the additional 30-minute segment on how the film was made. It was fascinating, wasn't it? Well worth sitting through!
 
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Same here; documentaries have always been my favorite genre on the movie screen--followed closely by dramas which reflect history so closely that they are near-documentaries themselves (e.g., Schindler's List, Band of Brothers, etc.).

What is little-known about Hitler's evolution to such an unspeakable level of ethnic hatred, is that his book, "Mein Kampf," is in part a product of the influence of Martin Luther--of all people. Most western, seminary-trained theologians do not know this, and if they do, they don't readily speak about it.

In short, and at the noble end of the spectrum of human achievement, Martin Luther penned his "95 Theses," which became the theological spearhead of Protestantism (by mention of such, I in no wise speak ill of the Catholic Church, I rather underscore that Martin Luther's 95 Theses was a noble work). However, on the treacherous end of the spectrum of human achievement, Martin Luther would later pen a series of writings on the "scourge of the Jews." And it was these latter writings which gave birth to the monster which grew inside Hitler--to later form the Nazi Regime--equating to the death of 20 million people in death camps--a number far greater than the readily-referenced "6 million" representing Jews.

My reference to Martin Luther's offerings is in no wise an attempt to defame the man. Much rather, the "spectrum" I've defined above is that which simply underscores that he was, in fact, a mere man. Herein lay my overarching premise to the question of evil: I believe mankind to be inherently evil, and that we have to learn to be good. And further, that we have to overcome our inherent evil, by discovering just how we can go about being transformed--on the inside. Assuming ownership of a Jeep TJ is a very good start.

:)

A "man of letters," who penned several weighty letters over 2,000 years ago, challenged his readers to "...hold every thought captive...". That is, to weigh and consider every thought--before it gives birth to the spoken or written word--which later gives birth to action--whether good or evil. This said, when Martin Luther penned his 95 Theses he was clearly "holding every thought captive." However, when he penned his latter writings positing that "Jews were the scourge of the earth," he was likely indulging in too much fine beer--which tends to allow every thought to run amuck (nothing against beer, mind you--I enjoy it myself :)).

I've spent time with holocaust survivors, in Israel, at Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial. I had the supreme privilege of taking part in a ceremony therein, for one particular survivor. In and through meeting this woman, I'm left with one profound conclusion: The potential for evil in mankind can be terrifying. However the commensurate potential for kindness, mercy, compassion and love can nullify such, and triumph over evil, in the end. And, this potential reaches its climax when a human being has been exposed to the worst measure of suffering, including the holocaust, to then remarkably so, choose to forgive. And it is this capacity to forgive, which baffles me far more so than our capacity for evil.

@Squatch, you have my sincere apologies for waxing philosophical. To make amends for such, please allow me to diffuse my posturing by posing a more relevant question to this forum: What do you say, about the merits of the advantages versus disadvantages of the longer wheelbase in the LJ?

:jump:
You definitely need to go wheelin with @JMT ;-)
 
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You definitely need to go wheelin with @JMT ;-)

Ya man, I'm overdue for a wheel'n session, ((( BIG ))) time. My rig starts whining if it hasn't seen major mud in two weeks or more (kinda like a dog when it whimpers, as you're eating a hamburger within 3 feet of its nose).

I'll be meeting-up with @JMT in a few weeks, to get his help with a few mods/repairs (replacing worn front coils and rear axles).

Maybe next time we hit the trail at Hidden Falls, we can get you out there?
 
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@Jeepers-N-Creepers - Sounds like a plan.
@JMT helped me install a 2" Procomp lift on my 05 Sport a few weeks ago. Thanks again, JMT!
I'll try to meet up with u guys if i can.
I've been wheelin down there 4 times so far and i have May penciled in for 2019.
Btw, he's been to Yad Vashem, so have I. :)
 
@Jeepers-N-Creepers - Sounds like a plan.
@JMT helped me install a 2" Procomp lift on my 05 Sport a few weeks ago. Thanks again, JMT!
I'll try to meet up with u guys if i can.
I've been wheelin down there 4 times so far and i have May penciled in for 2019.
Btw, he's been to Yad Vashem, so have I. :)
Me 2, three times, does that count? ;) I’m glad to be in good company.
 
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My son and I just returned from the theater, and watching this unbelievable, informative, and chilling movie/documentary. Well done is an understatement for sure.
Thank you Squatch for the heads up on this.
 
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My son and I just returned from the theater, and watching this unbelievable, informative, and chilling movie/documentary. Well done is an understatement for sure.
Thank you Squatch for the heads up on this.
Really glad you and your son had a chance to see it. Wish they were having more showings in the U.S., but I guess that makes what we witnessed even more special.
 
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Someone sent this to me, and it ripped at my heart. I'm sure the impact was greater for my having watched the film that this thread was about. The voices in this song are so pure, and the message...well, you be the judge. It's based on true events that happened both in 1914 and 1915. Look it up, if you like. It's an amazing thing to think about. Hope you enjoy this...

Celtic Thunder - 'Christmas 1915'
 
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