One of the most fascinating movies of the last four decades is It Happened Here , an alternative history set in a Britain which the Nazis successfully invaded. It Happened Here is significant in that the film does not pretend that the Brits would have acted particularly nobly under German occupation. The main character is in fact a collaborator, who is portrayed as no worse or better than the British partisans who are fighting the Nazi occupation. The movie was somewhat controversial when it came out, and some scenes had been removed until quite recently, because they were thought to encourage fascists.
Alternative history rarely appears on the silver screen. Watchmen, Fatherland, C.S.A., Death of a President (an alternate history in which George Bush was assassinated), and It Happened Here are the only cinematic alternative histories I know about. On television, Sliders portrayed alternative histories quite frequently, but not particularly persuasively. It Happened Here, along with C.S.A., remains the definitive classic of the genre, though Watchmen had its moments. But this genre is hugely underexploited and hopefully in the future Hollywood will see the potential for both entertainment and education in the alternative history style.
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I think Watchman succeeds more in the comic book form. I have not seen it happened here. I may have to give it a gander.
ReplyDeleteYea, I think Watchmen was better as a comic, though I think the movie's underrated. It Happened Here is great, you should check it out.
ReplyDeleteJohn
I enjoyed "Watchman" as a film and thought they made pretty good choices overall of what to keep and what to cut/change.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed alternative history. In fact, one of the first books in the genre I read was "SS-GB" from Len Deighton, which takes place in a pretty similar backdrop to the one in this movie.
Steve, thanks for stopping by. Yea, check out Iron Dream and Bring the Jubilee as well. Great reads.
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