world war two

In Review: The Book Thief

by Mairéad Roche 28 February 2014

 World War II stories are now a near genre in and of themselves in literature and cinema. However, with The Book Thief, director Brian Percival takes Michael Petroni’s adaptation of Markus Zusak’s original novel and allows for a fresher perspective on the war: that of ordinary German people living through the Nazi regime.

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In Review: Emperor

by Daniel Goodwin 3 October 2013

Set in 1945 during the American occupation of Japan, Director Peter Weber’s [Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)] Emperor tells the story of General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) and Japanese culture specialist Bonner Fellers’ (Matthew Fox) investigation into Emperor Hirohito following the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

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In Review: The Colditz Story on DVD

by J P Wooding 7 December 2012

Seventy years ago, Pat Reid and four other British Officers, escaped from what the Nazis believed was an inescapable prison. In 1952, Reid’s novelisation of the various escape attempts and the forming of a fellowship amongst prisoners of varying nationalities became a bestseller.

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In Review: Passport to Pimlico

by Ben Sheppard 1 June 2012

Between the Jubilee weekend and the opening of the Olympic Games, Studio Canal have arranged a special season of screenings that will see 5 classic British films back on the big screen. The first is 1949’s Passport to Pimlico . Though this film doesn’t match the high points set by pictures such as the Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets and the Man in the White […]

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In Review: War Horse

by Helen Cox 21 December 2011

By Jeff Galasso Ever wonder what Sam and Frodo’s relationship in The Lord of the Rings would be like if Frodo had been a horse?  Steven Spielberg must have and War Horse is his answer. It is also his entry into the 2011 Academy Awards race; a move that can be charitably described as “misguided”. 

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In Interview: Rose Bosch, writer and director of The Round Up (2010)

by David Katz 24 June 2011

By David Katz Rose Bosch’s The Round Up (2010) is one of the most notable recent success stories in French cinema, a moving and thought-provoking account of the Vel d’Iver round up in 1942. The round up was a mass arrest corroborated by the Nazi-occupied French government of 13,000 Parisian Jews, forcibly removed from their […]

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