Nice documentary about Walt Disney and Warner Brothers' propaganda cartoons that impersonate and satirize dictators like Hitler and Mussolini in WW2: also Donald Duck, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny with stars and stripes in their eyes: 'He who shall attack America shall die' - 'That's right, and I'm an American duck!' Ducktators starts off with snippets and excerpts from some Japanese propaganda cartoons and real footage from the attack on Pearl Harbor and moves on with other really serious messages in supposedly innocent cartoons (also probably some material from the 1942 cartoon 'The Ducktators'). Some of these couldn't be shown today (out of the context of this documentary) because of the moral implications for Germany and Japan who are made fools of in the cartoons (especially swastikas and rising suns).
It's kind of awkward to see funny children's heroes exclaim propaganda about freedom, democracy, war bonds, encouraging patriotic one-liners and plain war instructions with Private SNAFU (situation normal: all fu**ed up) who informs soldiers about possible spy activities etc. We also see some uncensored material (issues of sex and violence) that actually seemed quite innocent to me. Even naked cows and naked birds (booby-traps?) had to be censored apparently for some reason.
There are interviews with cartoonists, directors, producers and their wives, who tell about the background and production details of the cartoons. Ducktators is revealing but unfortunately evokes more questions than it answers. Maybe that's what the makers intended with this American-Dutch co-production. I hope there's going to be a sequel when they find more material.
8/10
It's kind of awkward to see funny children's heroes exclaim propaganda about freedom, democracy, war bonds, encouraging patriotic one-liners and plain war instructions with Private SNAFU (situation normal: all fu**ed up) who informs soldiers about possible spy activities etc. We also see some uncensored material (issues of sex and violence) that actually seemed quite innocent to me. Even naked cows and naked birds (booby-traps?) had to be censored apparently for some reason.
There are interviews with cartoonists, directors, producers and their wives, who tell about the background and production details of the cartoons. Ducktators is revealing but unfortunately evokes more questions than it answers. Maybe that's what the makers intended with this American-Dutch co-production. I hope there's going to be a sequel when they find more material.
8/10