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Reviews2
lmckenzie-1's rating
John Thaw is excellent in this 1989 TV drama about Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris which was nominated for three BAFTA awards.
The film begins in early 1942 when Harris takes over RAF bomber command.
Convinced that the only way to win the war is by saturation bombing of German cities, this movie raises ethical issues about the tactics of bombing civilians. After the retaliatory strikes on German cities as reprisals for the Blitz by the Luftwaffe there was a directional shift from 'area bombing' as the strategic bombing of major cities was called, towards 'precision' bombing of military and strategic targets.
Harris is convinced that only by engaging major German cities will the war be ended swiftly but is hampered by insufficient aircraft poorly equipped for endurance bombing raids, the lack of coordinated efforts by American bomber command (who were focused upon strategic targets - despite their heavy losses) and moral opposition from higher authorities.
Harris wins enough approval to begin conducting 1000 bomber raids on Germany and pushes for a raid on Berlin. Area bombing remains an unpopular strategy and the successful raid on the Ruhr dams by 617 squadron begins to win opinion that favours the continuing strategy of precision bombing raids.
As the general direction of bombing raids swings towards supporting Operation Overlord and the D Day landings Harris is convinced that this will prolong the war and lead to greater loss of life on both sides of the conflict.
In particular Harris believes that D Day is unnecessary and will simply involve needless loss of life, an opinion forged by his own action in the trenches of WWI, and enlists the support from Churchill to continue with his area bombing campaign.
The bombing of Dresden produces negative publicity when dubbed 'terror bombing' by the news media and support for Harris severely wanes.
"Every German city is not worth the bones of one British Grenadier" states Harris.
Both the allies and Germany believed that air superiority and the strategic bombing of aircraft factories, crude oil manufacture, synthetic oil manufacture, rubber production, ball bearing factories and railways etc. is what significantly contributed to win the war in Europe.
The war in the far east still raged on however and only ended by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Was Harris correct then? Is area bombing the only effective way to end armed conflict during war? 'Bomber Harris' cleverly raises these questions in this superb film. Despite their importance and contribution towards winning the war no campaign medal was ever issued for members of bomber command.
Edited with actual footage of bombing raids and music from the era adds to the nostalgic atmosphere of this film and helps preserve the era. Superb use is made throughout of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata no doubt meant to emphasis the RAF's strategy of bombing by moonlight.
A truly excellent film with superb acting from Thaw and definitely one to watch.
The film begins in early 1942 when Harris takes over RAF bomber command.
Convinced that the only way to win the war is by saturation bombing of German cities, this movie raises ethical issues about the tactics of bombing civilians. After the retaliatory strikes on German cities as reprisals for the Blitz by the Luftwaffe there was a directional shift from 'area bombing' as the strategic bombing of major cities was called, towards 'precision' bombing of military and strategic targets.
Harris is convinced that only by engaging major German cities will the war be ended swiftly but is hampered by insufficient aircraft poorly equipped for endurance bombing raids, the lack of coordinated efforts by American bomber command (who were focused upon strategic targets - despite their heavy losses) and moral opposition from higher authorities.
Harris wins enough approval to begin conducting 1000 bomber raids on Germany and pushes for a raid on Berlin. Area bombing remains an unpopular strategy and the successful raid on the Ruhr dams by 617 squadron begins to win opinion that favours the continuing strategy of precision bombing raids.
As the general direction of bombing raids swings towards supporting Operation Overlord and the D Day landings Harris is convinced that this will prolong the war and lead to greater loss of life on both sides of the conflict.
In particular Harris believes that D Day is unnecessary and will simply involve needless loss of life, an opinion forged by his own action in the trenches of WWI, and enlists the support from Churchill to continue with his area bombing campaign.
The bombing of Dresden produces negative publicity when dubbed 'terror bombing' by the news media and support for Harris severely wanes.
"Every German city is not worth the bones of one British Grenadier" states Harris.
Both the allies and Germany believed that air superiority and the strategic bombing of aircraft factories, crude oil manufacture, synthetic oil manufacture, rubber production, ball bearing factories and railways etc. is what significantly contributed to win the war in Europe.
The war in the far east still raged on however and only ended by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Was Harris correct then? Is area bombing the only effective way to end armed conflict during war? 'Bomber Harris' cleverly raises these questions in this superb film. Despite their importance and contribution towards winning the war no campaign medal was ever issued for members of bomber command.
Edited with actual footage of bombing raids and music from the era adds to the nostalgic atmosphere of this film and helps preserve the era. Superb use is made throughout of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata no doubt meant to emphasis the RAF's strategy of bombing by moonlight.
A truly excellent film with superb acting from Thaw and definitely one to watch.
An interesting Yugoslavian WWII film about which celebrates the relatively unsung story of the Yugoslavian Partisan air-force who took on the might of the Luftwaffe with outdated biplanes in 1942 occupied Yugoslavia.
Cinematically there are some superb sequences in this film shot against the dramatic backdrop of Yugoslavian scenery but the film is badly let down by some poorly thought out and clichéd scenes and dog fights using model aircraft where the aeroplanes have a tendency to burst into unconvincing explosions.
A little skillful editing could do much to improve the appearance of the film to remove some of those unnecessary scenes that distract from the overall quality. Many of these scenes simply don't work or are so clichéd that they become laughable. Little can be done with regard to the dog fights and other ludicrous airborne attack scenes using models.
It's a shame that Hajrudin Krvavac who directed this film couldn't re-shoot some of the aerial sequences concentrating more on superb flying skills and cinematography rather than trying to rely on the dramatic action sequences on a low budget. Good aerial sequences pitching biplane against Messerschmitts would raise this film to the level that it deserves and some clever low level circus flying, carefully shot, would highlight the cavalier but heroic nature of these partisan pilots as well as be thrilling to watch.
In the final flying sequence of the film while the partisans are attacking a bridge suspended over a spectacular gorge an opportunity was missed for some breathtaking flying sequences given the plot that two of the pilots earlier admit to low level flying under a bridge.
The music score by Bojan Adamic on the whole overwhelms the film and is used inappropriately throughout which is something, again, that a little skillful editing could dramatically improve upon and bring the quality and appearance of the film up a notch or two.
Originally filmed in Serbo-Croat, I personally would have much preferred if this film had been released with subtitles rather than being dubbed because the dubbing is extremely poor and distracts from the acting performances of the actors who on the whole do a good job of portraying their characters.
The film also suffers from poor continuity in one or two scenes but like the unnecessary, clichéd scenes, the overbearing and inappropriate use of background score and the poor dubbing these could be skillfully edited out to improve the viewing of the movie enormously.
I was surprised when I watched this movie to find out that it was actually filmed in 1979 because the overall feel of the movie makes it look like a much more recent production much to the credit of Krvavac.
The film is now available on DVD and has a running time of 122 minutes which is still 8 minutes short of the original.
On the whole the film concentrates on a few hit and run flying missions from grass stripped runways and one to watch if you can get over the points mentioned above.
This could be a stunning film if ever given the Hollywood big budget treatment with a greater attention to the flying sequences.
Cinematically there are some superb sequences in this film shot against the dramatic backdrop of Yugoslavian scenery but the film is badly let down by some poorly thought out and clichéd scenes and dog fights using model aircraft where the aeroplanes have a tendency to burst into unconvincing explosions.
A little skillful editing could do much to improve the appearance of the film to remove some of those unnecessary scenes that distract from the overall quality. Many of these scenes simply don't work or are so clichéd that they become laughable. Little can be done with regard to the dog fights and other ludicrous airborne attack scenes using models.
It's a shame that Hajrudin Krvavac who directed this film couldn't re-shoot some of the aerial sequences concentrating more on superb flying skills and cinematography rather than trying to rely on the dramatic action sequences on a low budget. Good aerial sequences pitching biplane against Messerschmitts would raise this film to the level that it deserves and some clever low level circus flying, carefully shot, would highlight the cavalier but heroic nature of these partisan pilots as well as be thrilling to watch.
In the final flying sequence of the film while the partisans are attacking a bridge suspended over a spectacular gorge an opportunity was missed for some breathtaking flying sequences given the plot that two of the pilots earlier admit to low level flying under a bridge.
The music score by Bojan Adamic on the whole overwhelms the film and is used inappropriately throughout which is something, again, that a little skillful editing could dramatically improve upon and bring the quality and appearance of the film up a notch or two.
Originally filmed in Serbo-Croat, I personally would have much preferred if this film had been released with subtitles rather than being dubbed because the dubbing is extremely poor and distracts from the acting performances of the actors who on the whole do a good job of portraying their characters.
The film also suffers from poor continuity in one or two scenes but like the unnecessary, clichéd scenes, the overbearing and inappropriate use of background score and the poor dubbing these could be skillfully edited out to improve the viewing of the movie enormously.
I was surprised when I watched this movie to find out that it was actually filmed in 1979 because the overall feel of the movie makes it look like a much more recent production much to the credit of Krvavac.
The film is now available on DVD and has a running time of 122 minutes which is still 8 minutes short of the original.
On the whole the film concentrates on a few hit and run flying missions from grass stripped runways and one to watch if you can get over the points mentioned above.
This could be a stunning film if ever given the Hollywood big budget treatment with a greater attention to the flying sequences.