MovieChat Forums > Flags of Our Fathers (2006) Discussion > I´m sick of the glorifying of the americ...

I´m sick of the glorifying of the american soldiers!


99% of the movies about ww2 is about american and british soldiers. Young people today are taught that ww2 was only won because of the invasion of normandy (which btw only 50% of the troops were american. the rest was English, French, Polish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish and other soldiers)

Her is a fact for you history lacking americans:

The German army had 300 divisions on the eastern front (that´s Russia btw)
-3 million soldiers fought the red army since july 22nd 1941.

On the western front, the German army had only 50-60 divisions.

FACT.

American and British loss; under 1 million soldiers combined.
German losses; 7 million soldiers.
Russian losses; 17 million soldiers!!!!!

The war was won almost solely due to the red army, with soldiers under a brutal regime, who faced being shot by their own officers if they didn´t advance.

When USA joined the war in late 41, the German invasion of Russia had already stopped outside of Moscow and Leningrad. American soldiers didn´t join the war in europe until 3 years later.

So stop thinking you saved europe! I mean, I really respect the effort you made, as well as the great sacrifices. But stop glorifying it!!!

But I will definately watch red sun, black sand:)

-Norwegian

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I am so sick of all those people whining about how every movie seems to focus on Americans. What do you expect from an American movie? Do you expect the characters to be predominantly Chinese? AMERICAN films feature AMERICAN heroes 9 times out of 10. BRITISH films feature BRITISH heroes. GERMAN films feature GERMAN heroes. Do you see the pattern here? What your complaint really is is that the countries you want to see represented don't have such large film industries. Incidentally Germany has made some of the best war films of all time (Guess what country the main characters are from) with Der Untergang and Stalingrad leading the list. More than that this particular film you chose to rant is brother to another film which breaks the Americans first rule. Letters from Iwo Jima is told from the Japanese side in Japanese by the Japanese. It's a real shame they couldn't throw a few Germans or Russians onto Iwo Jima just to please you,

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While this is all well and good, this movie is about the Pacific Theater of which the Russians had signed a pact not to enter in 1941. It wasn't until August 8th 1945 that the Russians attacked the Japanese in Manchuria (another forgotten fact) or a little less than a week before the war was over.

As far as the European Theater and the Overlord campaign goes, we fought on the two highly contested beach fronts of Omaha and Utah Beach. Sword, Juno and Gold were lightly contested at best and that is why for the most part it is all that is covered in American cinema save movies such as the Longest Day, which is fairly broad in its scope. We fought and died to save the people of Europe as did Britain, who by the way made up a large part of the attempted defense of Norway, which had thought they could appease the Germans by remaining neutral and continuing to trade with Hitler. You should give the British credit for their attempted defense. Of course their is also the fact that the Norwegians fought on the Eastern Front that could play a part in your focus on it. Roughly 6,000, of course they fought for the Nazi's.

I do think the eastern front is widely ignored by American books, but that could be because the Russians were our enemies up until the collapse of communism in 1990. I am personally well aware of it, but I wouldn't exactly glorify it. It was a war of attrition and scorched Earth. Stalin was the greatest killer of the war and I don't think that changes as a result of his conquest of Eastern Europe. If you want to see films glorifying Stalin Sergei Eisenstein made several. I don't think that paying tribute to the worst man of the twentieth century is appropriate or necessary. If you want an American film on the topic I recommend Moscow Strikes Back, which is narrated by Edward G. Robinson (notice the American munitions and aircraft used in the defense of Moscow).

Did we fight a substantially weakened German Army, yes. Of course we did, but what does that have to do with the fight against the Japanese at Iwo Jima? We fought the Japanese with the assistance of Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. However, the majority of the those armies were fighting in Northern Africa and later on the Western Front. The fight against the Japanese is the crux of this particular film and it was a bloody one. They were a formidable force and their defeat was mostly due to their mistakes and our heroism of which this film tries to capture. The Japanese savaged Asia and were absolutely brutal to our P.O.W's. We fought them in incredibly bloody land, sea and air battles. They fought well for their country, much better than Norway fought the Nazi's. Their inability to recognize air power and over reliance on battleships was Japan's downfall. Midway is a good movie on the topic, but not entirely historically correct.

I understand there is a perception of all Americans being historically ignorant, but I think that is largely false. There are many people in the United States who are aware of all of the facts you have outlined. It just seems that people who have never been to the United States judge us too harshly based on the crap that is turned out of Hollywood. Our best work is not often seen and the diverse amount of opinions, culture and cinema is almost always overlooked. If you would like something more to your liking you could also watch Fahrenheit 911 Michael Moore doesn't like America too much either and you may find a kindred spirit.

I love my country and do not wish to make it sound like we are without fault or that we deserve too much credit for the saving of Europe. I think for the most part this movie is intended for American audiences and not for the run of the mill Stalinist such as yourself. Enjoy films glorifying the greatest butcher of our times and I will watch yet another movie about us kicking the crap out of the Nazi's.

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Then don't watch the movies, and get your countries film-makers to make movies.

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a-men to what you said imlove! I am an american soldier.and if they don't like movies about american soldiers then they can go to where its real warm and toasty!

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You do raise some good points but also some bad. Dwight D. Eisenhower made it very clear and his plan (D-Day) was carried out forcing the germans out of several main key locations in France, yes the Russians did most of the work but we still had a say in it. And for the fact, you weren't in World War 2 so don't degloryify something you only read about in history books. Just ask my grandfather who survived Pearl Harbor and went on to face the germans in France. And by the way you history lacking Norwegian, Norway wasn't a major combatant, they were a part of the Olso Group aka the officially neutral countries afraid to take any sides because they had no idea who to join until later on.

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*beep* You The Russians weren't fighting on two fronts like the Americans and the Brittish. They waited until we nuked Japan to declare war on Japan. How heroic! not to mention we were supplying many of thier tanks, planes, weapons, ammunition, through the lend/lease act. The reason thier losses were so heavy was because they were fighting on thier home front. The Germans wanted thier oil fields BADLY. We suffered millions of losses, I don't know what alternate history you are being taught from but you'd better look again, if we hadn't invaded France the Germans probably would've propelled the Russians, and you would be speaking German and saluting a Nazi flag, As...s. hole.

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They are american movies dumb prick...of course we are gonna look good.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

whats wrong with glorifying our soldiers?

"There is such a fine line between clever and stupid." - Spinal Tap

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You don't have to insult America or Americans to make a point. Not all Americans are dumb and oblivious to geography or history.

Fact: Norway fell to Germany in 1940; Norway was out of the war from that point on .

From the landings in Normandy to the fall of Berlin, British and American forces did the lion share of fighting the German Army in the West. Not to discount the resistance fighters of France, Belgium, etc. But the fact remains the German Army would never have been dislodged from Europe without the Anglo-American alliance and its advance.

Yes, no one will debate that the Eastern Front(Yes I knew that was the Russian front thank you!) was the one that counted most. BUT... The German war machine if it was not bombarded from the air by the USAAF and the RAF, or German fuel production was not effected by the bombing or the Germans did not have defend France, could have drawn out the war even longer by adding more divisions to the Eastern Front.

The German Army was the best trained army in the 2nd World War. The Allies especially the Russians beat them with shear numbers. Comparing the US Army to the Russian Army, the US was superior since we did not shoot our own men for retreating like the Russian Communist animals did.

Germany lost fighting a 2-front War; the 2nd front did not begin on June 6, 1944, it began with England beating the Luftwaffe 1940, delaying the invasion of Russia, which if it went off sooner the Russians would have lost Moscow.


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