Frank CapraWhy We Fight: Divide and Conquer

"Divide and Conquer," Chapter III of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight"
series, begins with Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany
after Hitler's invasion of Poland. The film covers the Nazi capture of
Denmark and Norway, steps necessary to mount a future attack on Britain,
then describes in detail Hitler's strategy as he conquers Luxembourg,
Belgium and the Netherlands. Special attention is paid to Nazi
atrocities. Dead and injured children are shown en masse and the film
explains how the bombing of Rotterdam leads to "thirty thousand men,
women and children killed in ninety minutes." The narrator tells how
the Luftwaffe bombs small villages so that refugees clog the highways,
and how it uses precision machine gun fire to herd the survivors toward
the allied armies, who find their progress severely constrained as a
result. An American military officer details the Nazi plan for an
invasion of France, which Hitler conquers in just over a month. The
Germans bludgeon the French armies into surrender, then "enslave" much
of the local population to service the German military regime.

This item is part of the collection: Cinemocracy

Producer: Frank Capra
Audio/Visual: sound, color

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: rwf - - March 31, 2006
Subject: Where is this type of film today.

As I watched this film I could not help but think the world has not learned anything from the past. The west faces a more determined enemy than it did in WW2 and yet the same head burying and denial that bad things can happen to us exists. Instead of our media working to bring unity against a common foe I see the same termites at work. I found the film riveting when viewed with the current conflict in mind.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - March 31, 2006
Subject: Bothered by Nazi Termites?

This third film of the "Why We Fight" series documents the Nazi push into western Europe and the conquest of Norway, Belgium, Holland, and France. This film is kind of dullÃÂÃÂit's mostly combat footage and military strategy explained by an intelligence officer talking in a monotone and pointing to an animated map. About the only really interesting thing about it is that it contains lots of animated footage of the type described in Cartoons Go to WarÃÂÃÂmy favorite is a scene of a bunch of little swastika termites eating away at the foundation of a castle meant to represent France. Pretty standard.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **