KMTV Film Expert talks about armed forces week

KentOnline / KMTV

Kent Film Club presenter Chris Deacy joins us in the studio to talk about films to watch during Armed Forces Week.

Transcript

00:00Now this week is Armed Forces Week, which prompts the thought of war films. Kent Film

00:05Club presenter Chris Deasy joins me in the studio to chat a little bit more about this.

00:10So we talk about war films quite a lot in Kent because it was so important, especially

00:17in the World Wars. But tell me a little bit about some of the films that come to mind

00:22when I say Armed Forces Week and what films people should watch.

00:25Well, one film that does come to mind that was partly filmed in Kent, actually, Operation

00:30Mincemate with Colin Firth came out around 2022. I mean, that was phenomenal because

00:35it sort of gets to the heart of the military operation. You see all the behind the scenes

00:39work as well as some of the combat work. And places like Ford Amherst in Kent, obviously

00:45Chatham Historic Dockyard. In fact, that's a film that was filmed at those locations.

00:50So the history here, it's impossible not to be struck by that. And I remember actually

00:55even watching the film Dunkirk back in 2017. And actually there was almost a comical moment

01:02when I was at the Kavanagh in Herne Bay and they had to evacuate the screening and somebody,

01:07almost somebody who may even have been a veteran for all I know was like, oh my gosh, you know,

01:11it was such a strange kind of experience because it was so visceral. So the importance of Kent

01:16and the military and the armed forces is one that goes all the way back.

01:20And in terms of a genre, because so many films, there are fictional ones, one based on true events,

01:26but also you can get some based in comedy and then some that are drama and really serious. So

01:31what kind of line is there with a war film to kind of reflect on people's experiences, which

01:37are obviously very traumatic, but then also to see the lighter side of humanity in those films?

01:41Well, I mean, when you think about films like Dr. Strangelove, which of course there's a stage

01:45performance with Steve Coogan reprising that the many roles that Peter Sellers played back in the

01:50day. And that can show how sometimes the black comedy, the farcical nature of war or the ridiculous

01:58way in which sometimes it doesn't make any sense. That actually, I think, is a very creative way and

02:03quite cathartic. I mean, you see that in film, you know, in TV programs like Alo, Alo or Dad's Army

02:08going back to an earlier generation. But I'm also thinking of the way in which, you know,

02:13you have the death of Stalin a few years ago as well. But also, when you think of films

02:18like Life is Beautiful, which was quite controversial when that did well in the Oscars back in 1998,

02:25because it was that thought about how you can turn anything to do with the war or to do with

02:28the Holocaust as a comedy. But in many cases, of course, it can be very powerful because I

02:34think the line between comedy and drama is a very permeable one. And also it's a matter of

02:39relatability that if you're dealing with something as horrific as war, then sometimes the lens of

02:44comedy seems a far more fitting way to do that than if you present it in a very sort of stark

02:49documentary style.

02:51Yeah. And I mean, in terms of how it's changed recently, the making of war films and maybe how

02:57we remember differently as time goes on, how do you think war films are kind of depicted in recent

03:04years compared to many years ago?

03:05Well, I remember doing an episode of Kent Film Club with Gabriel, who picked 1917. And what was

03:10striking about that film, although it may have been a slate of hand, but it looked like it was all

03:14done in one continuous take. I mean, it wasn't. But also what you can do, the technology can inform

03:20the way that we watch these films and immerse ourselves in, if you like, the language of war.

03:25So it's almost the way in which you can have firsthand experience. I mean, looking at a film,

03:30and it's not a war film as such, but kind of is post-apocalyptic, with the 28 years later

03:35that's on release this week, made by Danny Boyle, which is filmed largely using smartphones,

03:41using mobile phones. And it's a film that is almost like anti-technology or takes us back

03:45to an age before those phones, but uses modern technology to film it. So actually, I think

03:50that it's the technology. Ironically, the more advanced the technology, the more it can put

03:56us into the frame of those pre-technology wars, like First and Second Wars, and makes it

04:02all the more gritty for us to watch.

04:04Yeah, because I guess whenever you think of mobile phone footage, it feels more personal,

04:08doesn't it? So I guess in that way, it does. And there are films, one that I've got in my

04:13notes, one called Warfare. So that was actually co-written and directed by an Iraq War veteran.

04:19So that's also something when making films, actually including those, we've lived experiences

04:24to actually make the films. Do you think that's quite important?

04:26And it is. And also looking at Alex Garland, whose name appears there, as written and directed

04:32by those. I mean, Alex Garland wrote The Beach, but also collaborated with Danny Boyle, indeed

04:37on 28 years later that we've just been talking about. So I mean, this kind of thing is important,

04:42because when you then have the veterans from the war, who were able to talk about their own

04:47experience, and that can be translated into a screenplay. I mean, you saw it actually with

04:52a film about the role of journalists in war set in an America of the future civil war with Kirsten

04:58Dunst. And that was another example of a film that looks shockingly like today's world. And it's

05:04probably only sort of set fictionally a year or two into the future. And it's the way everybody wants

05:08to capture every single moment and put their lives literally on the line in order to photograph that.

05:13And interestingly, it's photographed with black and white photos rather than videoing. So it shows

05:18that the technology is always sort of up front, you know, war films and the type of technology used,

05:23I think actually go and always have gone hand in hand.

05:26And I do have a couple of questions for you as well. So one of our producers has put a quiz

05:32together for you. So let's, let's give this a go, shall we? So, and it's not Kent related specifically,

05:39it's more just about Armed Forces Week. So which iconic war film released in the 1950s depicts a World War

05:47War II jailbreak, 1950s. Oh, 1950s jailbreak. Well, that was a bit before the, the Great Escape.

05:53Yes. Yeah. Was it, is that the answer? No. No. A Bridge on the River Kwai, perhaps? No,

05:58that was, that was late 50s. That wasn't a jailbreak. You'll have to give me a clue, is he?

06:02I'll give you the answer. It's A Man Escaped. Oh, okay. So it's this film here.

06:06Oh, Robert Bresson, who did A Diary of a Country Priest. Yes. So it's where a French prisoner,

06:11Fontaine, hatches a plan to escape execution. So that's that film. In the

06:162009 film War Horse, how many different horses was the main horse Joey played by?

06:24I have a feeling it might be three. Three. So I have 14 different horses here.

06:30Well, it shows, it's the slate of hand. How would we know? Because we think it's,

06:34I should have said it's one because Steven Spielberg is such an exemplary filmmaker.

06:38In a way, yes. I mean, for the sake of the audience, yes, it is one.

06:42Indeed. Thank you very much, Chris. A pleasure, Izzy. Thank you.

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