Movie Forums Top 100 War Movies - Group Watch

I wasn't able to find a link with subtitles, but I was able to download the film and then download the subtitle file separately. I'll DM you with what I did to get the film to play. It's not hard, but there are a few steps involved.

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I got your message, thank you for that. I'll look at it after work tomorrow but not sure it'll work on my outdated iPad. I don't even know what a file is lol.

That's what I had to do. I grabbed a HD copy that looked great and then had to fuss around finding the right subs. Then I had to retime them to get then to sync....The good news is, I got it to work and the bits and pieces I've seen of the movie looks very promising.

I take that back I can't get the subs even closely matched. I'll keep trying and hope to watch the movie.

I sent you what I used. The file I had didn't require any resyncing.

Also, just finished Quo Vadis, Aida?, and I really enjoyed it. I liked how it came from the perspective of someone who isn't any significant danger from the troops, yet her family is and she has to figure out a way to protect them. It made for a good point of view, especially as the UN troops are slowly shown to be at the mercy of the Serbian troops. It won't make my ballot, but I'm glad I was able to watch it.

You guys have about 24 more hours to watch the film. Current candidates to host the next round...

I'm trying to watch it, I really am

'Quo Vadis, Aida?' (2020, Jasmila Žbanić)

Moved me beyond belief. Earth shattering performance from Jasna Djuricic as the titular character. The horrific events of Srebrenica in the mid 90s unfold as history sadly repeats itself. Feels like a massively important film.

Where did you watch that at? I'm having a helluva time finding it for free.

Quo Vadis Aida (2020)

Finally after about six tries I found a copy that worked for me. It was worth the effort! I don't know what to say about this movie except it hit hard because it was true, it hit hard because it captured the panic of people trying to escape the brutality of war and it captured a woman, Aida who witnessed it all. The actress who played Aida gave one of the best performances I've ever seen put on film. I haven't read about her but I wouldn't be surprised if she was a victim during the Srebrenica massacre that the film is about. The killing all takes place off screen and that works to heighten the fear to palatable level. It's the fear in the victims eyes and the panic of the Bosnian civilians that makes this one of the most haunting films I've seen.
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If you've got a link I wouldn't mind getting to it at some point.

The next host is...

@ScarletLion

I eventually found a link for Quo Vadis Aida? at the Russian site, I don't know why I didn't see it before. It's HD with English subs and looks great, I'll PM it to you.

I messaged ScarletLion, btw.

Nomination #16

I watched this one for the 28th Hall of Fame. I didn't care for it, but I'll save my thoughts for later.

The Painted Bird is the story of Bluey a one winged blue bird that just wants to dance. Bluey gets his chance when the town announces a talent competition where the winner gets 10,000 bird dollars...seed money if you will. Unfortunately old man skunky the skunk wants to crush Bluey's dreams. Bluey is going to have to get all his little friends together to put the play on and crush Skunky's intention.

Nah I'm just kidding this was a horrific experience of the film. Similar to Come and See but with more animal cruelty, sexual and child abuse. It's a long film broken up into chapters though the lead is basically mute he's just experiencing these horrors of War.

The film is a nihilistic mixed bag...using intense and beautiful black and white cinematography but then inserting horrific experiences. The film also uses stunt casting grabbing Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) as a Russian sniper and the boy from Come and See as a rescuer. It's at that point of the film that the movie turns...it's the end of the war and the horrors that the child goes through have roughly finished.

Of-course the narrative is cluttered and clunky. Many plot points seem to come out of random story elements. Several times I had no idea what was going on with the characters. A number of scenes don't really translate they just sort of exist without any sense of context. You also have this weird sense that time is almost 100 years apart with some villages feeling like they are from completely different centuries. The process of modernization is jarring and then you get the kid thrown into an outhouse scene.



That was my review for it...

Good start.

I've seen The Painted Bird in the same HoF Siddon did. I think we all seen it there. It reminded me of a deprived, nihilistic version of 1917, where everything that can happen to the lead character does happen. That was one my complaint about 1917 too, both The Painted Bird and 1917 don't know when to pull back and when to stop showing different scenarios of war horrors. Of course The Painted Bird dials those horrors up into the stratosphere, so extreme and so many different situations that this film would've been better framed as a fantasy-drama about a dying boy's vision of hell during WWII...then I might buy all the extreme torture and animal sex and medieval villages as making sense as a vision of hell from the mind of a dying kid lying in the ashes of a bombed out building.


My 28th HoF review:


The Painted Bird (2019)

There's lots of great countryside location shooting in this film...The war scenes were well done too, but I liked best the rural settings with their poverty and primitive mystic-spiritual beliefs, which are pretty weird! I like the artistry of camera work like in the above screenshot, with it's use of a wide angle lens shoved right up to the foreground subject which makes the midground subject and the background look remotely away...giving a feeling of isolation and hopelessness. The entire film has amazing shots like that. I especially liked the rural village scenes, they almost seem like they were back in the middle ages.

BUT I hated watching this as it's shock-thrills...with the film's claim to fame being a whole bunch of nasty stuff going on for the sake of it. Animals on fire are an immediate negative for me, even if it's CG it still seems too real my mind. Most of these shock-for-thrills films are poorly made but the sad thing here is The Painted Bird really looks great and sets us in a desperately poor world during WWII. I just wish it was 45 minutes shorter and nix the extreme stuff, then it could've be great.