German TV drama confronts a nation's wartime guilt

Thanks Kodiak. In few hours I'll get the film with English subtitles. The tittle ("Come and See") of a film is from Apocalypse of John; as an invitation to look upon the destruction caused by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Obviously, not a comedy.

 

The film gets a little "arty" at times, but overall it's excellent. The plot follows a young lad in Belarus who joins the partisans. An einsatzgruppe swings through the area exterminating entire villages because of the partisan activity. It's pretty ugly, but the director actually lived through those times and tries to put it on film.

 

Excellent film. Here is a GPW song that captures something of the stealth and ferocity of the Partisan Wars. It also is as good an explanation of Partizantchina or "Partisan Spirit" as you can find; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25S3zPNnWgc .

 

Thanks Jeff for the link to that partizans song, also the song of Tito's partizans. It's a Russian song originally from the World War I. I've sang it often as a young guy and played it too. It makes impact when you sing it in a coir and listen to it from the voices surrounding you.

Tito's partizans have adopted it as their own too. Here is the lyrics of Tito's partizans translated to english. Please, notice that the lyric contains no hatred against the foe and no ideology, but the love for own land is overwhelming.

Through the woods and hills
Of our proud country
March the companies of Partisans
Spreading the glory of struggle!

I'm a Partisan; of that I am proud.
Not everyone can be that,
To die for freedom
Only a giant-hero can!

Let the cursed foe know
A bloody war is waged
We will rather die
Than give our land!

We will punish the traitors
And free all our people,
We will tell the entire world
That a bitter fight is fought!

Black hordes don’t scare us
Heroic blood boils in our veins
We don’t allow our lands
To be trampled by Fascists!

 

There's more. A song of Italian partizans “Bella Ciao” performed live in Balcans style by Goran Bregovic in Paris 2013. Enjoy the music!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=OyMA84-mowI&NR=1

 

Here's a Yiddish Partisan Song from the era (there were 20-30 thousand Jewish Partisans fighting in Eastern Europe); http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wgYnYSg3Zs And I think it obvious that Eastern Europeans produced "the Best War songs of WWII"...at least. If there is one thing that dissappointed me about the Zwick movie is that it did not delve much into this astonishing body of work.
JeffinMNUSA
PS. I just downloaded that "Goran Bregovic does the Belle Chao"off Amazon-the best rendition ever! I have been a fan of Goran Bregovic since this one first brought tears to my eyes; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2jench7Kg
PSS. I was sitting on a beach in Greece in 1973 listening to the the village band playing traditional tunes, when I realized that the Pop music I had grown up on WAS CRAP!