Customer Reviews

Brother Against Brother: The Spanish Civil War

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have long been fascinated with the Spanish Civil War and bought this DVD with high expectations. What a disappointment! Rather than a history of the Spanish Civil War, it is mostly a look at Brits who served in the International Brigades, based around the memories of a few elderly members. The overview of the war is weak with no coverage of the events that led up to the Spanish Civil War, little coverage of the political events during the war, virtually no coverage of daily life in the Nationalist and Republican zones, etc. The focus is firmly on the battles fought by the International Brigades, but little attempt is made to place these engagements in the context of the war and the descriptions of the battles are weak. Anyone not already familiar with the war would have been perplexed by this presentation.

As stated earlier in this review, the focus is on the Brits. No coverage is given to so many of the interesting facets of this war. The Requetes are not mentioned. Neither is the Anarchist leader Durruti. Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and the Phalange are absent. Franco is reduced to a figure in old newsreels and no background is given to him. The only Republican leader to receive much treatment is La Passionaria, and this is largely in the context of memories of her by the Brits of the International Brigades.

As one might expect from the focus on the International Brigades, the tone of the presentation is overwhelmingly left-wing. A British historian is shown sporadically, and he does his best to present accurate information on the war, but the narration and the rest of the presentation largely reduces this complex struggle to a leftist fable of good Republicans against evil Fascists.

From the credits I believe the film was actually produced in 1995. If that fact had been mentioned, and if it had been emphasized that the DVD was mostly about the reminiscences of British members of the International Brigade, I would have awarded it two stars. I think it would still be a poor piece of work, but I would have known what I was getting. I give it one star because it was marketed as a history of the Spanish Civil War, and it is not.

Charles I: living in the past, stubbornly holding onto power, unreasonably religious, surrounded by evil counsellors, squandering his subjects' wealth. Sound at all familiar? Anyway, this DVD is an excellent, quite thorough explanation of the English Civil War (1641-1645), its causes, events, and impact on society. Reenactments, many contemporary documents and pictures, and some erudite dons provide a concise and entertaining history of this bloody and significant conflict.

A history professor friend of mine once told me that the Spanish Republic of the middle 1930's was a strange animal. That is quite true and the civil war that devastated Spain when the Republic fought for its' very survival demonstrates the terrible consequences when the political center disintegrates. Decades of suppressed political animosity exploded when the Republic seized power, thousands of priests and other politicians of the right wing were executed. This naturally led to a backlash; the military revolt that started the civil war was predictable.
Unfortunately for Spain, it was also a proxy war, where other countries felt they had a stake in the outcome. Germany under Hitler wanted to test new war strategies and equipment and Italy under Mussolini wanted to show their military prowess. Both wanted to damage the international communist movement, which was the strongest backer of the Republican side. Each side massacred people of the other side and the Stalinist communists killed the POUM communists. When Franco finally won, several hundred thousand people considered political opponents were killed.
This tape relives the terrible tragedy of that war, the incredible idealism among the Republican volunteers and the cynicism of the politicians. Two members of the International Brigades tell their story and historian Richard Robinson explains what was going on in the broader sense. Britain and France were notable largely for what they did not do, namely strongly support the legal Republican government. As one of the volunteers points out, if the Republican government had received strong support, it quite likely would have won the war. A defeat of the Franco forces would have changed Europe dramatically, the German and Italian forces would not have returned home victorious and Hitler may have been less adventuresome. Surely Britain and France would have been bolder in their response to the actions of Hitler before the war.
The Second World War began slowly; there were several major events that led to the outbreak in September of 1939. The major event in Europe was the Spanish Civil war, so to understand why the Second World War started; it is necessary to understand the Spanish Civil war. You can achieve that understanding from this tape; years of conflict and international activity are distilled down into fifty minutes. I strongly recommend it for all courses in the history of Europe of the twentieth century.

This video is NOT told from an objective perspective but from a sympathizing point of view of the Republican forces and the International Brigades. The causes of the war are mentioned in a passing, very light, and superficial mannar. But in spite of some historical inaccuracies the chronological timetable narration is helpful to the viewer and mostly correct. The footage is repetative at times but helps visualize this tradegy. The interviews are a little unintelligible and lengthy but they provide a human face to the events of the war. I would recommend this video but caution to the viewer, this history seems more like hi story.

As so often happens when a ruler considered a tyrant is resisted by force, the end result is more severe than anyone suspected when the conflict started. The English Civil war from 1642 until the beheading of Charles I in 1649 started like so many civil wars do. For years, there was a festering of political grievances that could not find proper expression. Charles I was a firm believer in the divine right of kings to rule unchallenged, but the country was changing and he could no longer rule without engaging and cooperating with Parliament. They were the body that could raise funds, which Charles needed in order to prosecute the war against the Irish and Scottish uprisings.
As the civil war began, the parliamentarians did not want to depose him, but simply wanted him to respect their political rights. His refusal to recognize his need to cooperate led to a long and bloody war. In the end, when he was defeated, the parliamentarians were faced with a serious problem. As long as he was alive and refused to renounce the throne, he was a danger as people would still rally to his standard. Therefore, the parliamentarians had only one option, which was to execute him. As that ruthless politician Joseph Stalin said, "No more man, no more problem." Oliver Cromwell, the foremost military leader of the parliamentarian army, understood this and was the driving force behind the execution of Charles I. In the end, this ushered in a period of greater political repression under Cromwell than ever existed under Charles.
This story is told in a series of narrated re-enactments of the battles of the civil war as well as an actor who portrays Charles I. While the action in the battles is not well done, the story is well told. A historian narrates the history of the action; both on the battlefields and the political maneuvering that took place. This war was not only a defining moment in the history of England; it was also a significant moment in the development of democracy as we know it. From that point on, no English monarch could govern without strong allies in Parliament. That fundamental concept meant that the governed had a voice in what was done, and forever destroyed the concept of the divine right of kings to rule unchallenged, at least in England.
As one of the major events in the history of democracy in general and England in particular, the English Civil War should be studied in depth by all students of western civilization. I strongly recommend this tape as required viewing in any such course.

I bought 2 copies of this program accidently because I thought they were both different. One on amazon.co.uk and the other on amazon.com. They haven't yet made a decent program of this war, not that it's a very interesting war, but it's odd that no one is prepared to make a docmentary about the only republican government in England and the only civil war if you don't count the war of the roses, which was more a dynastic struggle. Please someone in England I know it's a banned subject, but can you make a program about this war worth watching.

I have not watched this film yet, but know something about the Spanish Civil war. And most of those commenting here, don't.

In short, the republicans WERE fighting to save Spain against the fascist Franco who was aided by Mussolini and Hitler.

Spain at this period was a truly free, anarchist society of which we all sould only want to emulate.

The Communists later went into Spain after the fascists won the war and wrecked their own havoc.

Any real understanding of anarchist Spain would HAVE to be "left wing" because anarchists are not communists of the USSR sort, nor fascists!