Hi there. I just felt the need to write something since the only other review is really not too clever. It seems the guy above (or below) has some serious problems with the director and the film, however, his review is nothing short of narrow-minded. Please, if you have the opportunity to actually see this film consider yourself lucky and do it! It's a rarity and it's remarkable. Better documentaries have been made before and after, and some criticism is valuable, but all in all it has to be watched by peoples interested in the history of (American) documentaries.
3 Reviews
Rare insights about post-WWII America
tshary179 February 2023
The sentiments expressed in this film were shared by many after the victory over fascism in WWII, but the dominant culture rarely expressed them for fear of sounding unpatriotic. While the narration is often heavy-handed and the recreations are occasionally awkward, the intent-- to consider the hypocrisy of a nation that fought against racism in the war only to continue embracing it afterward-- is sincere, with compelling results. Much of what is said is prescient, and Americans would do well to consider how the violence of intolerance persists into the 21st century.
One shot features a billboard for the 1947 film 'Crossfire', one of the few Hollywood productions after the war that addressed antisemitism. Within a few more years, the makers of that film, and hundreds more-- including Leo Hurwitz, who made 'Strange Victory'-- would be suspected of communism by HUAC and blacklisted from working in the film industry. Because back then, such liberal beliefs as opposition to racism were considered dangerous by right-wing politicians. Dare we think that politicians today still uphold such nescience?
One shot features a billboard for the 1947 film 'Crossfire', one of the few Hollywood productions after the war that addressed antisemitism. Within a few more years, the makers of that film, and hundreds more-- including Leo Hurwitz, who made 'Strange Victory'-- would be suspected of communism by HUAC and blacklisted from working in the film industry. Because back then, such liberal beliefs as opposition to racism were considered dangerous by right-wing politicians. Dare we think that politicians today still uphold such nescience?
Nevertheless and notwithstanding...
allenrogerj9 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Any film where the commentary contains those words has got something wrong with it. Nevertheless and notwithstanding the often clunking commentary and a continual and continually irritating musical score, there's a lot that's interesting about Strange Victory. It's a warning about the future looking at children in a maternity ward, reminiscent of Diary for Timothy but much more didactic, much more determined and (alas) much more confidently marxist. It looks at the presence force and effect of racism in the USA, at segregation and Jim Crow, at quotas at universities, at "restricted~" communities, at lynchings. There's a fictionalised scenario in the middle where a black ex-pilot cannot get a job flying in the USA. The director was perceptive; he could see that things wouldn't be the same, unfortunately his solution- communism- failed and the USA could change and adapt. There might be new prejudices and new problems but they are different and and have different effects. All the same, worth having a look at for the driving force of the images, some effective rhetoric, some astonishing visual images and superb archive footage.
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