Week 2 Reaction Questions - WWI

Choose One of the following films to analyze and create a post on the blog about. The post should include a completed template --see link to the right, as well as thought out answers to the questions below IN ADDITION to the template. Please cite any sources that you use & remember to include an image.


Theme One – The Hero

Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean

Sergeant York – Howard Hawks

Gallipoli -  Peter Weir

The Blue Max – John Guillermin

Theme Two - Melodrama

Oh what a Lovely War – Richard Attenborough

Doctor Zhivago – David Lean

The African Queen – John Huston

A Very Long Engagement – Jean-Pierre Jeunet




1. Did you find any evidence of ineffective military leadership (associated with upper-class ineptitude) that is compensated for through hard work and commitment of the lowly infantryman? Any scene where difference in social class is evident? Describe the dynamic or scene in which this theme is portrayed.

2. Does the film show a suffering soldier as a victim of war rather than exposing the structure of violence and presenting soldiers as elements in it? Or does it portray the soldier as a strong individual following codes of honor and duty How does the film achieve this point of view?

3. Does the film offer the audience the familiar pleasures of cinema – the romantic scenarios and melodramatic poses woven into a more direct and immediate sense of war? What elements of spectacle in the story (battle scenes or otherwise) achieve a sense of melodrama? 

4. Is the enemy portrayed as neutral or through hysterical exaggerations of atrocity? 

Answer each of the questions above in addition to completing the template. Depending on the theme you choose (The Hero/Melodrama) certain question will have more lengthy responses than others.

Good Luck!