It's been a while since I saw this movie. I can't understand why this production is being touted as a "cult classic" but then I do have an axe to grind. My uncle was on the infamous voyage, as a 17-year-old boy.
One of the fewer than one hundred living survivors, or "Dunera Boys", he still refuses to talk about his experiences on the ship. Which is unusual for him, as he is generally very talkative. He does, however, keep in contact with some of the other "boys".
Anyway, back to the movie. For some grotesque reason, the playwright, Ben Lewin, decided to treat the episode as a farce. While there is a farcical element to the story, the suffering of the internees is paramount. And this is why I find the movie so offensive.
Nowhere in this movie will you see a hint of the overcrowding, the appalling sanitary conditions with the overflowing latrines, the foul anti-semitic abuse of the British troops, the chumminess with the few dozen fanatical German Nazis, the clubbing with rifles butts. Notorious incidents such as the prisoners being forced to dance on broken glass, the bayoneting of a prisoner in the stomach, and even the stripping of all the prisoners' possessions, including their identity documents and false teeth, are airbrushed out of the picture. No wonder the UK government has sealed all documents relating to this episode until 2040.
Despite the worthy cast, this movie skirts around the essence of what actually transpired. Movies are not newspapers, I realise: they don't have a duty to inform, but neither do they have a duty to distort history wantonly. I can't imagine any "Dunera Boy" would feel that the film has anything meaningful to say about their 57 days of living hell.
One of the fewer than one hundred living survivors, or "Dunera Boys", he still refuses to talk about his experiences on the ship. Which is unusual for him, as he is generally very talkative. He does, however, keep in contact with some of the other "boys".
Anyway, back to the movie. For some grotesque reason, the playwright, Ben Lewin, decided to treat the episode as a farce. While there is a farcical element to the story, the suffering of the internees is paramount. And this is why I find the movie so offensive.
Nowhere in this movie will you see a hint of the overcrowding, the appalling sanitary conditions with the overflowing latrines, the foul anti-semitic abuse of the British troops, the chumminess with the few dozen fanatical German Nazis, the clubbing with rifles butts. Notorious incidents such as the prisoners being forced to dance on broken glass, the bayoneting of a prisoner in the stomach, and even the stripping of all the prisoners' possessions, including their identity documents and false teeth, are airbrushed out of the picture. No wonder the UK government has sealed all documents relating to this episode until 2040.
Despite the worthy cast, this movie skirts around the essence of what actually transpired. Movies are not newspapers, I realise: they don't have a duty to inform, but neither do they have a duty to distort history wantonly. I can't imagine any "Dunera Boy" would feel that the film has anything meaningful to say about their 57 days of living hell.