Fury (#4)

This weekend I saw David Ayer's new film, Fury, starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, and Logan Lerman. Personally, I believe it achieved its goal of presenting an incredibly gritty, accurate, and shocking representation of the lives of U.S. armored vehicle operators in World War II and it left me stunned and deeply moved by the end. Nothing was predictable about this film and it constantly had me (quite literally) on the edge of my seat.

However, one negative aspect that was prominent in Ayer's war epic was the demonization of the German soldiers. This is something I have seen in many WWII films, as it is true that many great atrocities were committed by the Germans and most movies taking place during the war are told from the point of view of the Allied Forces.

As a result, history (through the media) has stained the world's memory of the German people at that time, depicting them all as anti-semitic, heartless Nazis. While I do acknowledge that the ideals of the German National Socialist Party were heinous and, frankly, evil, the same cannot be said for the millions of German civilians who lived under the iron fist of the Third Reich.

WWII films often follow the actions and heroic deeds of several ordinary, relatable soldiers who were innocently doing their duty and were, at every turn, hindered and threatened by wicked Nazi bastards. However, the truth is, most of the time, they were hardly wicked, and even less so Nazis. Many of the German soldiers fighting for Hitler were drafted, and, towards the end of the war, many of them practically children. These people were just as ordinary and relatable as our good old boys overseas, fighting for Uncle Sam. Many weren't even members of the Party, and if they were, often it was not by choice - lack of political support for Hitler could result in lesser food rations, suspicion, and possibly arrest. Even enrolling one's children in the Hitler Youth was made obligatory during the war.

My point is that while many inhumane and cruel acts were committed by the Nazis during WWII, this does not characterize the nation as a whole at the time, the same way the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by several men in a plane did not make every American a murderer. The media needs to take a stronger stance in making this expressly clear.

On a final note, a young man I spoke to who grew up in Germany told me that every generation of Germans after the Holocaust is born with an inherent feeling of guilt. Quite frankly, that's not fair. Let's remember that there was only one Hitler and only so many Nazis, but they were all Germans.