|
The tragedy of war is all there. But we are
not allowed to dwell upon it. Here was a nation and empire on the
edge of an abyss. With Britain out of the war there would have been
no second front. No Allied assault on the Reich from the Air. No
D-Day. The US may well have stayed out of the European war entirely
(they didn't enter until 1941 remember). The Nazi's would have had
full reign over the British Empire and turned those resources
against Russia. The Battle of Britain may well have been a side-show
in comparison to the Great Patriotic War. However, without this one
titanic struggle the world would have been a very different place.
Even if Stalin had finally overcome Hitler - say, by 1947, the
entire of Europe and the British, French and other European Empires
would all have fallen under Soviet control. True global domination.
No cold war. Game over. The US completely isolated.
In fact it is hard to imagine a World in which
the British did not win the Battle of Britain. Around it all other
world events hinged. The Battle became a legend before it had
finished. There were many more battles to come but few had been so
pivotal and so dependent upon so FEW combatants. This story has it
all. The planes were legendary. Their pilots heroes. What heroes do
we have these days? Footballer's? C'mon!
This movie tells a very important story in a
compassionate and even-handed way. The Germans feature as much as
the Commonwealth pilots. This is not some 'good-versus-evil' fable.
Nothing is clear cut. Each young man had his mission. There are no
appeals to patriotism in this movie. However, it still doesn't fail
to stir the senses. How could so few make so a big difference? We
all live in the shadow of this story.
Even if you put the enormity of the tale to one side you still end
up with a rip-roaring story. You simply couldn't make this stuff up.
You get to see the working class pilots rub shoulders with the
traditional stereotypical public-schoolboy RAF pilot. You see how
enthusiastic the young German Pilots were as they started the
battle. Then you see them as they die, one by one, until their
Commanders blame them for defeat.
The movie starts with one young (and very
green) RAF pilot being taught how to fight by his Commander. By the
end of the battle that same boy is a man and telling his young men
how to fight and survive. His previous Commander is dead. It almost
feels like you were there. Young pilots vomiting from the nerves of
waiting for battle. Families torn asunder as one pilot finds his
wife and children killed by a German bomb. How can this not be
moving?
Even if it doesn't move you through story
telling then there is no denying that this movie has one of the best music scores you will ever hear. The sequence known as "Battle
in the Air" plays WITHOUT sound effects and ONLY to Sir William
Walton's score. The most moving combat sequence in any movie ever.
Hands down, the finest war movie ever made. |
