Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1723)

Content

Bearing Witness: The Remarkable Life of Charles Bean, Australia's Greatest War Correspondent

Peter Rees

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

'Peter Rees has done what no one else has managed: read the vast Bean archive and get inside the...

Jean Reno recommended Life Is Beautiful (1979) in Movies (curated)

"A movie I like very much by Roberto Benigni. It’s a way of talking about a very serious matter through a comic form. A touching form. That was a new way of speaking of a moment in the history of humanity. Very painful. [Having worked with him on The Tiger and the Snow], Benigni is somebody who [writes] the script and he is somebody who [interprets] the script, but he will let you very free. He is not a dictator. Basically, he is a poet. Somebody who sees the world through his own eyes in a poetic way. [The Tiger and the Snow] is a movie I like because he wanted to talk about the war through his eyes, and it is a very honest movie. Very"

Source

Kudos

Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Young Survivors in Books

Jun 14, 2020

The Young Survivors

Debra Barnes | 2020 | Education, History & Politics

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is not your usual memoir about the Holocaust ... well not one I have ever read before anyway ... it's the true story of what is was like for a family of Jews living in France during World War II.

Written from the perspective of three of the children, the story tells of their harrowing experiences during the German occupation of France and having to move from place to place, losing the adults in their lives and being separated from their siblings.

This is a heart-rending story but also a story of survival, bravery and hope and I want to thank the Duckworth Books Group via JellyBooks for my copy in return for them analysing my reading data and an honest review although this wasn't compulsory.

Kudos

David McK (3562 KP) rated The King's Man (2021) in Movies

Feb 12, 2022

The King's Man (2021)

2021 | Action, Adventure, Comedy

7.0

(11 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Much delayed by the pandemic (roughly 2 years), this is the third Kingsman film, abandoning the modern-day setting of the first and second for a World War One era prequel.

Which proves to be a good move, injecting a spot of interest into the movie - I, for one, struggled with the second entry - and allowing a mishmash of history and fact to play out on screen.

This also has a shocking moment about roughly 2/3rds of the way through, during the period of the movie in the trenches that almost feels like it belongs to a different film altogether.

It also has an absolutely bonkers fight scene involving Rasputin: it's a pity, I feel, that he does not have a larger role than he does!

Kudos

The Night Manager

John Le Carre

5.0 (4 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In The Night Manager, John le Carre's first post-Cold War novel, an ex-soldier helps British...

Sean Astin recommended Patton (1970) in Movies (curated)

Patton (1970)

1970 | Classics, Drama, War

8.5

(8 Ratings)

Movie Favorite Watch

"With Patton, understanding the second World War is required spiritual learning for anyone born in the later 20th century going forward. You know, I could list 50 films, but that one… There’s something about the mantle of celebrity, mixed with a really good rendering of military tactics, and finally, George C. Scott’s performance… I mean, really, if you look at them, it’s Ben Kingsley and George C. Scott that have me put them on the list, because they make those portraits feel so authentic. This idea that, “I’ve been here in countless guises before,” this hint at reincarnation, if you will, and destiny. This questing for destiny is something I feel in my life. I’m put here at this moment, in this time, when social media is doing what it’s doing, and filmmaking has reached this kind of new zenith, and I feel like everything I’ve been born and raised and taught and experienced has put me here for a particular reason, and I just know it’s gotta be something. The fact that Patton feels that, this quest for destiny, that he’s supposed to be doing something… You know, the actual morality of war… Karl Malden’s character, who’s nowhere near the forceful personality and couldn’t probably whip a battalion into shape in the way that Patton does — you need both guys. But ultimately when it goes on, Patton doesn’t know when to stop, and I love that they dramatize that. He’s being interviewed and he talks about the Russians, that he should just keep going and fight the Russians — “We’re going to have to fight that war sooner or later” — and oh, guess what? In the news today is this Crimea issue, and you sort of go, “Boy, what does that mean? How are we going to relearn that lesson?” So there’s just so much stuff wrapped around it that’s relevant and interesting, and it’s a story well-told. Just the way they set up the conflict and everything, I love it, love it, love it."

Source

Kudos

ClareR (5890 KP) rated Lessons in Books

Nov 21, 2022

Lessons

Ian McEwan | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I was really looking forward to reading a new Ian McEwan novel, and I’m very pleased to say that I haven’t been disappointed.

Lessons is the story of Roland Baines’ life. His successes, loves, losses - all set against an historical background of the 20th and 21st centuries: World War 2, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Chernobyl and Covid 19 (and others besides, but there are too many to mention them all!).

I was completely engrossed, and it’s a book that you don’t want to race through. I love McEwans writing - so much is said in each sentence.

I’ll admit it now, a lot of what really kept my attention were the details about Germany: WW2 and it’s aftermath, Roland’s trips beyond the Berlin Wall and it’s fall.

The future is set for Alissa (Roland’s wife) when her English mother presents her with her journals, written when she travelled to Germany after the war. She had wanted to write articles about German Resistance during the war, and specifically the Scholls White Rose movement. These journals remained unpublished and unread 40 years later. And so when Alissa walks away from Roland and their baby to ensure her own dreams of literary success, it’s unsurprising even if it’ll ears callous.

The book is told from Roland’s point of view, first person, so we hear his inner voice throughout. What stood out most for me, was that his voice doesn’t change through the years. Yes, I know this is obvious - it’s the same book. What I mean is that what younger people often forget, is that the 72 year old man at the end of the book is the same as the 11 year old boy - just with 61 years experience. His experiences as an 11-14 year old with his piano teacher have a lasting and life-changing impact.

I loved this book and would highly recommend it. It’s a book to be savoured.