A Defeated People
A Defeated People | |
---|---|
Directed by | Humphrey Jennings |
Produced by | Basil Wright |
Narrated by | William Hartnell |
Music by | Guy Warrack |
Distributed by | Crown Film Unit |
Release date | 17 March 1946 |
Running time | 18 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
A Defeated People is a 1946 British documentary short film made by the Crown Film Unit, directed by Humphrey Jennings and narrated by William Hartnell. The film depicts the shattered state of Germany, both physically and as a society, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The narration explains what is being done – and what needs to be done – both by the occupying Allied forces and the German people themselves to build a better Germany from the ruins.
Synopsis
The film opens with a map of the
Destitute children are seen sitting aimlessly in the streets. A shot of a woman nursing a baby is accompanied with the statement "We can't wash our hands of the Germans, because we can't afford that new life to flow in any direction it wants". The military authorities are shown mobilising civilians to begin the task of cleaning up and rebuilding, and it is explained that the aim is to prevent not only starvation and epidemics, but also "diseases of the mind", i.e. "new brands of Fascism". People are shown living in the cellars of bombed buildings, without heat, light, water or sanitation. Coal is singled out as the single most vital resource, with the British "Coal Control" unit organising the output and distribution of the Ruhr coalfield production. A Catch-22 situation is detailed, whereby coal is needed for power and transport, but without the power and transport infrastructure already in place the coal cannot be moved to where it needs to be. There is no coal to spare for civilian use, so the populace have to forage for timber as a power source. Civilian railway travel on what survives of the network is only possible with a permit issued by the military authorities, but the volume of passengers still overwhelms the capacity. A train is seen leaving Hamburg for Kiel with dozens of people riding the buffers or hanging on the outside, ignoring loudhailer announcements that this is forbidden.
The establishment of a
The Krupp family industrial dynasty is singled out for mention as "just as responsible for killing Allied soldiers as Hitler and Göring". Footage is shown of their destroyed ammunition and armaments factories. Surviving members of the Wehrmacht are seen being processed. These men must be reassimilated into society somehow, "not only their bodies, but also their minds". If so much as one man or woman is appointed to office while still believing in Nazi values and German supremacy, "you have the beginnings of another war". Therefore, they are all put through a rigorous demobilisation screening process. Anyone who is on the wanted list, or otherwise suspect in any way. is rejected for demobilisation and sent "back to the cage".
When the nightly curfew falls, the civilian population must get off the streets and fix for themselves as best they can. Air-raid sirens sound "to remind them that it is up to them to regain their self-respect as a nation". The film ends with images of children dancing in a ring accompanied by the statement that the Allies will remain until they can be sure that the next generation will represent "a Germany of light and life and freedom...truth, tolerance and justice".
Production
Footage for A Defeated People was shot in the British Zone of Occupation, covering the north-west of Germany. Filming started in August 1945. The main location chosen for filming was the area in and around the devastated city of Hamburg, with scenes of Cologne, Essen and Aachen also used.
The film was one of the first to show the consequences of World War II for ordinary German civilians, made at a time when the prevailing attitude towards them in the Allied nations was still of hostility and suspicion, alongside a desire for retribution and a sense that they were now justly reaping what they had sown and deserved every hardship that had come their way. Jennings acknowledged this in the film, while also trying maintain a neutral, non-punitive tone to highlight that attempts by the Allies to rebuild post-war Germany were vital to minimise the risk of future conflict. He admitted that it was extraordinarily difficult to find a narrative middle ground which was neither vengeful towards the German people, nor exculpatory of them. Writing to his wife from Germany, he said: "They certainly don't behave guilty or beaten. They have their old fatalism to fall back on: 'Kaput' says the housewife finding the street water pipe not working...'Kaput ... alles ist kaput.' Everything's smashed...how right – but absolutely no suggestion that it might be their fault – her fault. 'Why' asks another woman fetching water 'why do not you help us?' 'You' being us. At the same time nothing is clearer straight away than that we cannot – must not leave them to stew in their own juice ... well anyway it's a hell of a tangle."[1]
Modern analyses of the film tend to point up a dichotomy between the narration and the images it accompanies. There are some points in the narrative which overtly state that Germany as a nation must accept collective guilt for the outcome of a war they started; the images however show people as individuals and offer a measure of sympathy for their situation and hope for a better future. The British Moving Picture Archive suggests that here Jennings as a director shows an "interest in, and concern for, common humanity (which) cannot be repressed even in such a context".[2]
Score
Muir Mathieson was the musical director and the music was composed by Guy Warrack. Both were uncredited. It was Warrack's second documentary score for Crown following The Last Shot of the year before. Mathieson wrote:
"Warrack secured two musical effects that immediately put him in the front rank of documentary composers. To shots of the gutted steel shell of the Krupps Essen factory, the music gives great drama by musically reconstructing the air raid that originally destroyed the plant. Another scene shows a conversation between an S.S. man on the run and a British interrogation officer, done entirely by music, with no speech whatsoever. Both items were most effective".[3]
Critical reception
A Defeated People received a very favourable reaction from contemporary critics, who viewed it as an important film on a vital subject of its day, which would answer many of the questions being asked by its audience about the reality of life in defeated Germany. Comments included: "Once again the Crown Film Unit do an inspired job of reporting." (
The main shortcoming of the film was cited as its brevity (18 minutes), meaning that it could only skim over the surface of the complex and intractable issues involved. The
Copyright status
A Defeated People is attested to be in the public domain in the United States, and is available for viewing or free download on the Internet Archive.
References
- ^ Humphrey Jennings: Filmmaker, Painter, Poet Jennings, Mary-Lou. British Film Institute, 1982 Retrieved 28 September 2010
- ^ A Defeated People Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Moving History. Retrieved 28 September 2010
- ^ Mathieson, Muir. 'Music for Crown', in Hollywood Quarterly. Vol. 3, No. 3 (Spring, 1948), pp. 323-326
- ^ A Defeated People – what the film reviews said in 1946 Retrieved 28 September 2010
External links
- A Defeated People at IMDb
- The short film A Defeated People is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- A Defeated People at BFI Screen Online