[tps_title]8. Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)[/tps_title]
Dir. Richard Attenborough
Thirteen years before he would win the Best Director Oscar for Gandhi (1982), Richard Attenborough released one of the most curious anti-war films ever conceived: Oh! What a Lovely War. The film frames World War One as a flippant game between a number of aristocrats who personify different European nations. The music in the film is comprised of authentic period songs from the World War One era reworked both musically and lyrically to ironically comment on the action. One of the best examples is during the scene where American soldiers first enter the fray. As they storm into the pavilion inhabited by the British generals, they sing the famous American song “Over There” with the final line changed to: “And we won’t come back/We’ll be buried over there!” The uncomfortable juxtaposition between the horrors of the Great War, the insouciance felt by the European personifications towards the deaths of millions, and the deceptively upbeat music make Oh! What a Lovely War a mad triumph of creative expression.
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