I Watch Films: How I Won The War

 

How I Won The War

Black comedy in which Lieutenant Goodbody (Michael Crawford) leads a unit ordered to build a cricket pitch in enemy occupied North Africa during WW2. Except he’s explaining the story to a German officer after being captured at the last remaining bridge on the Rhine. And also telling it after the war. And also in the early part of the story characters know how things are going to turn out. Some of them will die.

When they die they are replaced by characters painted one bright colour, as though they are toy soldiers.

Goodbody is keen, believes in king and country, is sure the mission is important, his men are in good spirits (he looks after their feet). The men are less so, with one who goes mad, one joker the sergeant tells Goodbody to ignore as every unit has one, whose exploits eventually see him mistaken for a general. Also Gripweed (John Lennon) who admires the Nazis. In fact several characters have good things to say about National Socialism, the colonel saying that everyone has a phase when they’re young.

Goodbody and the German officer admit they have more in common with each other, of similar class, than they do with their troops. Though the massacre of Jews might divide them, other than that they can come to agreement. And in fact they do.

Watch This: Blackly subversive film about the madness of WW2
Don’t Watch This: The surreal and stylised elements distract from the very real messages, also some of the best jokes