Book Review: The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, ****

Japanese soldier beheading a Chinese man

Synopsis

In December 1937, in what was then the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (Nanjing) and within weeks not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured, and murdered many thousands of Chinese civilians. The story of this atrocity continues to be denied or minimized by the Japanese government, though some in Japan do recognize it. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents in four different languages (many never before published), Iris Chang has written an emotional account of that disgraceful episode.

Film Review: Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), by R Fleischer, T Masuda and K Fukusaku, *****

Synopsis

Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. That is one reason to review a forty years old movie. Another is the publication of a stunning new Blu-ray edition. A Japanese-American co-production, director Richard Fleischer (Soylent Green) and two Japanese directors put together this ultrarealistic account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor as presented from the perspectives of both nations, as diplomatic tensions rise between the two countries. While the Japanese military plans its attack on American military installations, the American forces nearly stumble into a much greater calamity due to a series of errors and mistakes. As the two sides plunge closer to war, the tension escalates until the final, spectacular air raid, arguably the most realistic ever filmed.

Book Review: First Shot - The Untold Story of Japanese Minisubs That Attacked Pearl Harbor, by John Craddock, ****

Synopsis
America’s first shot of World War II was fired by a worn-out World War I destroyer. An hour before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S.S. Ward hit its mark - a tiny but lethal Japanese submarine - but no one heeded the captain’s report. Before the morning was out, more than 2,400 people were dead, thousands more were wounded, and more than 100 American warships were destroyed or crippled. What became of the Ward’s message?

Recensione: Sommergibili a Singapore, di Achille Rastelli, ****

Sinossi

Questo libro trae lo spunto da una serie di lettere inedite inviate alla famiglia da un sottufficiale macchinista, Pietro Appi, friulano di Cordenons, che entrò nella Regia Marina nel 1937 e alla fine del 1939 fu imbarcato sul sommergibile Bagnolini. Dopo aver partecipato a missioni di guerra in Mediterraneo e in Atlantico, nel 1943 passò sul Giuliani che, trasformato in battello subacqueo da trasporto, fu adibito con altre unità similari al trasferimento, per conto dei tedeschi, di materiale strategico tra basi navali giapponesi in Estremo Oriente e porti europei.

Recensione: Samurai!, di Saburo Sakai, ****

Saburo Sakai

Sinossi

Con il suo "record" di 64 abbattimenti ufficiali, Saburo Sakai è considerato uno degli assi dell'aviazione da caccia moderna. Sottoufficiale dell'aviazione della Marina, a bordo del suo leggendario Zero, uno degli apparecchi più micidiali che abbiano mai solcato i cieli, compì una serie di straordinarie imprese per eroismo, talento di volo, intelligenza tattica, ma anche per generosità e altruismo.

La sua storia trasporta i lettori nel suo ambiente familiare e negli anni del durissimo addestramento, per condurli poi nei cieli della Manciuria, dove Sakai combatté dal 1938 al 1941 contro i cinesi, e sul Pacifico, dove l'"ultimo dei Samurai" duellò fino al 1945 con i piloti americani, diventando una leggenda vivente e sopravvivendo al suo destino.

Film Review: Katyn, by Andzrej Wajda, *****

Synopsis

KATYN is the story of Polish army officers murdered by the Soviet secret police in the Katyn forest during the Second World War and the families who, unaware of the crime, were still waiting for their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers to return. It is a film about the continuing struggle over History and memory, and an uncompromising exploration of the Russian cover up of the massacre that prevented the Polish people from commemorating those that had been killed.

Film review: The Factory of Martyrs, by Camilla Cuomo & Annalisa Vozza, ****

Synopsis
The face of charismatic leader Khomeini and his successors, portraits of national martyrs, animal figures symbolizing good and evil: these huge paintings, commissioned and sponsored by the government, cover the walls of entire buildings in Iran. They are part of the ongoing Islamic propaganda campaign begun at the time of the Revolution in 1979, in spite of the fact that Islam is an iconoclastic religion. The murals proliferated after the war against Iraq, which broke out a year after the birth of the Islamic Republic, cramming the streets amongst advertising billboards for household appliances and mobile phones, and they have become true “epics” of common men who – through the sacrifice and martyrdom held dear by the Shiite religious tradition – want to be fully acknowledged as heroes by the collectivity. These works stand out today in the urban landscape, amalgamating politics, war and religion into a single image. In recent years new imagery has begun to appear, abstract and mystic paintings or a kind of French-style trompe-l’oeil, evidence of the will to give the country a new, modern and more peaceful face, and a reflection of the changes, fears and contradictions of a vibrant Islamic society, brought under the spotlight of international attention.

You can read more about Annalisa Vozza.


A journey through today's Iran, by means of the huge paintings commissioned by the government, which tell about the myths and values of an evolving Islamic society. A full-length documentary, coproduced by Fabrica and RSI, Swiss Television, broadcast on RSI on December 2008 and presented in several international film festivals, including Taormina Film Fest, 2009 and Faito DOC Festival. V.O. Farsi, S.T. English. Format 16:9

You can watch a trailer here and another one here.

In partnership with: RSI, Radio della Svizzera Italiana whom you can contact to buy the movie.  

Tel: +41 91 803 5482 | Fax: +41 91 803 5725 | E-mail: salesoffice@rsi.ch

I am grateful to Faito DOC Festival for showing this film to me.

Gita al sacrario della Grande Guerra sul Monte Grappa

Commovente gita al sacrario del Monte Grappa con Benedetto. Giornata stupenda, sole brillante in un cielo blu, immacolato come la neve che copre il sacrario. Vedo con Benedetto, un amico di Cittadella. Siamo i soli visitatori al sacrario, esperienza mistica.

Le tre battaglie che si sono combattute qui dopo Caporetto, tra la fine del 1917 e l'armistizio del 4 novembre, sono state tra le più memorabili, e tragiche, della Grande Guerra.

Puoi vedere le mie fotografie di questa gita su Flickr.

Curioso questo libro sul soldato ungherese Peter Pan, sepolto nel sacrario. Leggi una recensione del libro qui.

Film Review: War Photographer, by Christian Frei, *****

Synopsis
An Oscar nominee for best documentary, 'War Photographer' was directed by Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei, who followed Nachtwey, who for many is the greatest war photographer of his generation, to Kosovo, Palestine and Indonesia.

We see the photographer in combat zones and pockets of horrific poverty, approaching his subjects slowly, with a hand raised in peace. After 20 years of covering war, poverty and famine Nachtwey still sees his work as an antidote to war and his photographs as a graphic 'negotiation for peace.'

Review
Christian Frei is never in want of original ideas for his films. Here he mounts mini movie cameras on Hachtwey's photo cameras and shows us the world's tragedies as Jim himself saw them. From war theaters in Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine, Somalia (hence the title) to poverty and gruesome mines in Indonesia, Jim has seen it all. His goal: to make people around the world aware of the horrors of war so as to build up forces to prevent this tragedy from happening again. A bit idealistic perhaps, but he puts immensely powerful images behind this goal.

Jim took all black and white pictures, and some scenes of this documentary are shot back home in NY and show Jim working with his assistants in the darkroom (this is predigital) to make perfect prints of his negatives.


You might want to buy his superlative photography book on the wars of the 1990s. It is a big, heavy and expensive book but worth every cent you pay for it.

Film review: Carnet d’un combattant kurde, by Stefano Savona, ****

Synopsis
Akif left Germany to join up with the PPK guerrilla fighters. His diary records the doubts, dreams and political discussions that the fighters share as they march through the mountains, and in the meetings where the women criticise male prejudices.

You can watch a trailer of the movie here.


Review
Stefano Savona proposes a unique opportunity to look at the Kurdish fighter groups from inside. We see how they train, eat, sleep, study and organize their society on the run. While one may feel some sympathy for young idealists trying to gain a homeland for their nation, I was rather appalled at how the commanders both indoctrinate these fighthers and send them to a hopeless death against the Turkish army.

Buy it on Amazon.fr, or Amazon.co.uk in both English and French.






La versione italiana è disponibile qui.

Film review: Opium, Afghanistan's Other War (2008), by Florence Gavage and Hossein Sadre, *****

Synopsis
Due to prolonged war and internal strife, Afghanistan has been devastated. The justice, health, education, welfare, communications and transport systems have suffered badly. The harvesting of poppies and the increase in the drug trade is now a major problem. Afghanistan is responsible for more than 85% of the world’s opium. UNODC (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) believes that although the systems are being implemented to tackle the problem, the production of opium is on the rise. The drugs trade is a major source of income and enables the Taliban, warlords and drug barons to maintain control of large parts of the country. As the most profitable cash crop, it also benefits poor farmers, and until there are viable alternatives, the poppies will continue to flourish. The confluence of myriad forces including the ongoing insurgency by the Taliban, the ubiquitous drug trade and a still-weak central government continue to hamper efforts at reconstruction and development. Today, the Afghan people are embarking on yet another long and arduous journey - this time on the road to recovery. Will they succeed ?

You can view this documentary on Youtube, thanks to the kind permission of the authors. See Part 1/2 here:


And Part 2/2 here:

Film review: Afghanistan, Messengers from a Dark Past (2007), by Hossein Sadre and Florence Gavage, *****

Synopsis
Having been ravaged by over twenty-five years of civil war and strife, Afghanistan has today lost nearly all that made up its rich cultural past, as well as the pride of its inhabitants, in the days when caravans trod across the Silk Route. Long before these dark years, the various Afghan clans had already seen internal conflicts caused by their geographic isolation and the resulting political and social weakness. The principle of “divide and rule” became very easy to apply to these peoples who had no thirst for conquest.

This documentary goes back to the very early periods in the history of Afghanistan and its most ancient inhabitants, some 2.000 years ago: The Hazaras.

Over the centuries, they were colonized and their identities gradually eroded. From Arab conquests to the rule of the British-backed Amir Abdul Rahman Khan in the 1870s, right up to the Taliban, who destroyed the Bamyian Buddhas with the help of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, a century of persecution, torture and humiliation finally subdued the Hazara people who were left without even a strand of hope.

You can view this film on Youtube by kind concession of the authors:

You can view Part 1/2 here:


You can view Part 2/2 here:

Recensione: La Quarta Sponda - La Guerra di Libia 1911-1912 (ed. 2007), di Sergio Romano, *****

Nascita e crescita dell'occupazione italiana in Libia

Sinossi

Considerata a lungo un episodio poco luminoso del nostro nazionalismo, la guerra italo-turca fu in realtà molto più complessa, e meno provinciale, di quanto possa sembrare. La vollero non solo i nazionalisti, ma anche i cattolici, buona parte dei democratici e persino alcuni socialisti. Per ragioni diverse suscitò consensi nella borghesia del Nord e fra i contadini del Sud. Giovanni Giolitti, allora primo ministro, la preparò forse controvoglia perché il Paese gliela chiedeva.

L'Italia che guardava alla "quarta sponda" come alla terra promessa andò alla conquista della Libia per ansia di riscatto, ma, attaccando l'impero ottomano, rischiava di riaccendere un braciere tutt'altro che spento, con focolai prossimi a nuove scintille (crisi marocchina e guerre balcaniche) e che sarebbe esploso, due anni dopo, nel primo conflitto mondiale.

Ho letto l'edizione del 2007 ma il libro è di esattamente 30 anni prima.


Recensione

L'Italia il primo paese ad effettuare un bombardamento aereo

Il libro è una descrizione puntuale degli avvenimenti che portarono alla conquista italiana della Libia, della campagna militare che ne seguì, e degli strascichi fino alla Grande Guerra, dove Italia e Turchia si ritrovarono di nuovo una contro l'altra. Il facile sbarco delle prime truppe, le alterne vicende dei combattimenti a terra, i negoziati di pace, il tutto viene trattato da Romano con la necessaria freddezza dello storico e con la meticolosità del ricercatore scrupoloso. Tantissimi i dettagli forniti, forse anche troppi da digerire per il lettore medio. Ma consola sapere che c'è tutto, o quasi, nel libro, che si legge con piacere ma serve anche da opera di riferimento cui tornare per rinfrescare la memoria.

Lettura piacevole ma che richiede un certo impegno e concentrazione, molto stimolante. Non molto utile invece il capitolo finale su Gheddafi, e destinato ad diventare obsoleto in breve tempo, al contrario del libro che probabilmente resterà valido nel tempo.

Utile anche un breve glossario alla fine, mentre come quasi sempre per i libri italiani manca un vero indice, c'è solo un indice dei nomi ed un sommario con titoli dei capitoli che comunque ne svelano il contenuto e facilitano la ricerca.

Recensione: Nagasaki Per Scelta o Per Forza, di Fred Olivi, ****

Fred Olivi in his B29

Sinossi

Oscurata per più di cinquant'anni dalla più nota missione dell'Enola Gay su Hiroshima e dalle poche e cattive informazioni diffuse e coperte da segreto militare, la missione del B29 Superfortress "Bockscar", compiuta il 9 agosto 1945 su Nagasaki, è rimasta fino a oggi quasi sconosciuta. Scritto dal copilota del "Bockscar", Luogotenente Colonnello Fred J. Olivi, italo-americano di prima generazione, "Nagasaki per scelta o per forza" rivela i veri dettagli legati alla Missione 16, le fasi segrete dell'addestramento e i dati sull'impiego di "Fat Man", la bomba atomica al plutonio tre volte più potente di quella all'uranio sganciata su Hiroshima pochi giorni prima.

Book Review: Decision At Nagasaki - The Mission That Almost Failed, by Fred Olivi ****

Review
When they decided to leave Italy to find a better future in America, in 1905, Fred Olivi's parents surely could not imagine that their son would become famous forty years later for dropping the most powerful weapon in history on the far away Japanese Empire! This is a personal history more than war history. The personal history of one of the many million Italians who contributed to make America for what it is, both in peacetime and at war. Fred joined the Air Force and on 9 August 1945 was assigned as copilot to the "Bockscar", the B-20 bomber that was to undertake the second nuclear bombing in history, three days after that of Hiroshima.

Book Review: Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World, by Tim Ecott, *****

Synopsis
A brilliant mix of vivid reportage, history and science. Historical diving bells, greek sponge divers, world war two frogmen and record-setting breath hold divers compete for space with misunderstood sharks, weeping turtles, smiling dolphins and erotically shaped sea slugs. From Ireland to Florida, Papua New Guinea to Vienna and the Bahamas to Seychelles, Neutral Buoyancy is travel writing of the most fascinating, readable kind; providing a window - or a view from a glass bottomed boat - on a rich, unfamiliar and unique destination. Travel writing of this quality makes Neutral Buoyancy a must for all armchair travellers, not just divers.

Book Review: Dear Mom, a Sniper's Vietnam, by Joseph T. Ward, ***

Synopsis
The letters Joseph Ward, one of the elite Marine Scout Snipers, wrote home reveal a side of the Vietnam war seldom seen. Whether under nigthly mortar attack in An Hoa, with a Marine company in the bullet-scarred jungle, on secret missions to Laos, or on dangerous two-man hunter-kills, Ward lived the war in a way few men did. And he fought the enemy as few men did--up close and personal.

Book Review: "Sideshow: Nixon, Kissinger and the Destruction of Cambodia", by W. Shawcross, ****

Synopsis
Although there are many books and films dealing with the Vietnam War, Sideshow tells the truth about America's secret and illegal war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973. William Shawcross interviewed hundreds of people of all nationalities, including cabinet ministers, military men, and civil servants, and extensively researched U.S. Government documents. This full-scale investigation—with material new to this edition—exposes how Kissinger and Nixon treated Cambodia as a sideshow. Although the president and his assistant claimed that a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia was necessary to eliminate North Vietnamese soldiers who were attacking American troops across the border, Shawcross maintains that the bombings only spread the conflict, but led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent massacre of a third of Cambodia's population.

Book review: Voices of S-21 (1999) by David Chandler, ****

Synopsys

The horrific torture and execution of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during the 1970s is one of the century's major human disasters. David Chandler, a world-renowned historian of Cambodia, examines the Khmer Rouge phenomenon by focusing on one of its key institutions, the secret prison outside Phnom Penh known by the code name "S-21." The facility was an interrogation center where more than 14,000 "enemies" were questioned, tortured, and made to confess to counterrevolutionary crimes. Fewer than a dozen prisoners left S-21 alive.

During the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era, the existence of S-21 was known only to those inside it and a few high-ranking Khmer Rouge officials. When invading Vietnamese troops discovered the prison in 1979, murdered bodies lay strewn about and instruments of torture were still in place. An extensive archive containing photographs of victims, cadre notebooks, and DK publications was also found. Chandler utilizes evidence from the S-21 archive as well as materials that have surfaced elsewhere in Phnom Penh. He also interviews survivors of S-21 and former workers from the prison.

Documenting the violence and terror that took place within S-21 is only part of Chandler's story. Equally important is his attempt to understand what happened there in terms that might be useful to survivors, historians, and the rest of us. Chandler discusses the "culture of obedience" and its attendant dehumanization, citing parallels between the Khmer Rouge executions and the Moscow Show Trails of the 1930s, Nazi genocide, Indonesian massacres in 1965-66, the Argentine military's use of torture in the 1970s, and the recent mass killings in Bosnia and Rwanda. In each of these instances, Chandler shows how turning victims into "others" in a manner that was systematically devaluing and racialist made it easier to mistreat and kill them. More than a chronicle of Khmer Rouge barbarism, Voices from S-21 is also a judicious examination of the psychological dimensions of state-sponsored terrorism that conditions human beings to commit acts of unspeakable brutality.

Review

This book is a useful reference for raw data from some of the protagonists. It is not easy or pleasant reading, but it does constitute a useful addition to the library of anyone researching the Khmer Rouge.

Book Review: "First they killed my father", by Loung Ung, *****

Synopsis
An unforgettable narrative of war crimes and desperate actions from a childhood survivor of Cambodia's brutal Pol Pot regime.