Historical aspects in the films The Downfall Movie; Days of Glory Essay

Historical aspects in the films The Downfall Movie; Days of Glory - Essay Example The researcher of this paper tells that as he watched the movie ‘The Downfall’, the idea hit him that throughout the period, Hitler was playing against his own people and officers. Admittedly, he wanted to do with his officers what Stalin did with higher order officers. Also, Hitler wanted to do away with the old and the unwanted. This went along with his plan of reconstructing Berlin. The evident dislike of Hitler for the civilians is visible throughout the movie. For example, he tells Speer in a scene â€Å"You know Speer, there is an advantage to those bombings.† This is so because in his words, â€Å"It is easier to clean up debris than to demolish everything ourselves†. Here, one can see a Hitler who claims that as the war is over, the reconstruction will be quick. As one moves ahead, one comes by more such instances. To illustrate, when Mohnke says that three million civilians have to be evacuated if there is no intention to make a deal with Americans , the response of Hitler is that they have to be cold as ice. That means, he is not intended to waste a moment in protecting the civilians. In his own words, â€Å"we can spend no energy on the so-called civilians†. When one remembers the scenes where 12-13 year olds fall prey to the Soviet fire as they promised to their Fuhrer, and the fact that Hitler is in no way intended to protect them, one realizes the fact that the only intention is a wipe out. To illustrate further, when Mohnke asks as to what will happen to women, children and the elderly if they are not evacuated, the response of Hitler is that there is no civilians in such a war. In addition, he states it clearly that if the war is lost, there is no matter in losing the people too. In other words, it becomes more than evident that Hitler is such a man who is sympathetic only towards two things; his dog and his lady secretaries. The rest all are just means to his end. However, when I watched the movie further, I was astonished to see that more provocative statements were in the pipeline. An example is his Operation Clausewitz which results in the evacuation of all offices from Berlin. Thus, Hitler uses Berlin as a front line city, and is not ready to take the civilians to safer places. He says â€Å"We would destroy them ourselves†, because according to him, â€Å"our people have become weak, and they have to die out.† When one sees the police officers killing old civilians alleging that they are traitors as they tried to escape from the front line, the fact becomes crystal clear; Hitler wanted to get rid of the old and the unwanted ones. In addition is the scene of old people abandoned in hospital along with hundreds of corpses. Moreover, the officers who betrayed him from the very beginning, according to Hitler, will pay for the treachery with their blood. That means, Hitler is very aware about the possible outcome and he wants to reconstruct. In total, it becomes evident that Hitler, at least in the movie, is not a leader of the people, but a man who does not possess even the slightest degree of care for his people. Instead, he is dreaming about a reconstruction of Berlin for which he wants to get rid of the old and the unworthy. For the purpose, he uses Berlin as a front line and makes people pay for their unworthiness. II. Days of Glory The film Days of Glory seems to be another film that depicts how the French treated the Africans during the period of colonization. The film concentrates on the way the soldiers from North Africa recruited into the French First Army are treated by their white counterparts. It seems to me that the westerners used the blacks as mere artifacts that can be used to meet their ends. To begin with, one can see that in the movie, many Berber men join the forces not for the love of France but to fulfill personal needs. To illustrate, Said is a goat herder who is forced to join the force for poverty, and Yassir is in need of boot y as it is necessary for his brother to marry. Similarly, Messaoud is