70 years ago today, Operation Market Garden ended. The Allies goal was to gain control of several strategic bridges over the Meuse and the Rhine in order to penetrate Germany and get their hands on the industries located in the Ruhr valley. Despite the extensive airborne support, the operation eventually failed, which considerably slowed down the Allies in their march towards Berlin and victory. But how is this in any way related to Germanic languages?, you probably wonder. In 1977 Richard Attenborough (whom you might remember as the billionnaire who spared no expense to build in the eponymous 1993 Steven Spielberg movie) directed A Bridge Too Far, a film that depicts the events that took place during Operation Market Garden. Instead of portraying the Germans speaking with a stereotypically thick accent like in some other films, Attenborough decided to go for a realistic use of languages, so that German characters actually speak German and Dutch people speak Dutch, along American and British protagonists speaking English. Very few films feature such a combination of languages — another example would be Paul Verhoevens Black Book (2006) —, which is why it would be a good exercise for you to watch the film if you have the time. Just like The Longest Day (1962), it features many A-list actors among whom Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier and Robert Redford. English subtitles will appear if you click one of the icons in the bottom right corner. Enjoy!
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 16:30:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015