Last night at the Walter Reade I saw two of the “Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan – 1948-1953” programs which are a one of the special events of the New York Film Festival. When my girlfriend asked me how they were, I really couldn’t come up with anything to say other than, “They were interesting,” which is about as uninteresting an answer as I can imagine giving.
But that’s what they were. They certainly weren’t conventionally entertaining. They weren’t exciting. I don’t know that I would even call them provocative, at least not to a modern viewer. The two “Selling Democracy” programs I saw focused on films from Germany and Austria and films from France and Italy. The methods of propaganda used by the US government at the time aren’t really surprising, and at times they’re completely laughable. I’m sure that if an audience of Americans in the immediate post-war period were watching these films, they’d have a more direct and even emotional impact. But watching them with 50 years hindsight, it’s that much simpler to see just what they were: blatant and pandering attempts to tell post-War Europe they were better off thanks to the help coming from America and the allies.
Of course, that was the entire purpose of these films, and the results seem to prove demonstrably that Europe was, in fact, better off due to American intervention. (Two films actually meant for American audiences from the Italian/French program which are rabidly anti-communist are nearly laughable, however, as to how they mischaracterize the evils of communism. With all the possible arguments against communism and especially the Soviet version of it, the simple Red-bad, freedom-good rhetoric was absurd.) These films are somewhat interesting (there’s that word again) to watch in context of our current role in the Middle-East. With the Bush administration having invoked The Marshall Plan as a precursor to what they’re now trying to do in Iraq, and with Bush repeatedly using the wartime newsreel line “Freedom is on the march,” it’s hard not to see the parallels for which, at the very least, the current administration hopes. Watching these films does illustrate the parallels the current administration would like us all to see, but it also noticeably depicts the differences. You can’t miss the fact that while the Stars & Stripes are often prevalent, they are also most of the time joined by the flags of all the other Allied countries involved in the war. Also, while the films exhibit much resistance explained as Soviet adn communist sympathizers, the reconstruction is almost always depicted as being an economic reality rather than one regarding safety and continuing violence. In fact, with the exception of some laughable stagings of communist sympathizers beating up free trade-union supporters putting up posters, overcome violence and safety issues isn’t discussed and, as we know, was not the same problem in European reconstruction as it currently is in the Middle East.
The “Selling Democracy” website has some great information about these films and the Marshall Plan (which was officially known as the “European Recovery Program” or ERP) in general, and it’s worth checking-out even if just for a brief history lesson. Each program is made up of five films which run from approximately 10 to 30 minutes. Programs 4 (“By Land and By Sea”) and 5 (“Strength for the Free World – From War to the European Union”) screen at the Walter Reade tonight. Beyond that, I’m not sure what they plan to do with these programs. The table of contents page has a link for “National Tour,” but it just goes on to a coming soon page. I hope that they can maybe put some of these programs, along with other documentaries and discussions, out on DVD, or even better sell them to PBS or The History Channel. One fascinating element of the story of these films is that since their production they had been banned from public exhibition in the US due to congressional order because the government didn’t want its citizens to actually see the kind of propaganda the US spread around the world, whether it was positive or negative. According to the web site (which is basically the same as the program handed out to filmgoers), the ban was lifted in 1990 “thanks to legislation introduced by Senator John Kerry.” History buffs especially would love this stuff, and film buffs (especially those who, like me, have an interest in politics and history) might be attracted to some of the filmmaking techniques and styles utilized and copied to get these points across.
The most interesting film I saw from a filmmaking standpoint was Aquila, a 21 minute scripted story obviously influenced by the contemporary Italian Neorealist movement, most specifically Vittorio de Sica’s brilliant and moving The Bicycle Thief. The film has no dialogue – just a music track – but is very simple to follow: the shipping town of Aquila is economically depressed, and a man can’t find a job to support his wife and young child. Before the war, they were accustomed to happier times. Now, everything is terrible, and he walks around the town aimlessly hoping he’ll happen upon a job while his young son and the other children play in the ruins and play with remnants of bombs. The communists start holding rallies in an effort to motivate the citizens, and it looks like they may find support. But just then, the Americans swoop in with food and coal and gasoline and other supplies. This influx of materials helps get the town out of its depression and opens it up as a major seaport again. Everyone goes to work, and the communist menace remains only in the posters announcing meetings that hang on the walls; yet nobody pays attention to them. The abrupt ending shows the materials being imported into Aquila making their way out of the town and being driven off to help reinvigorate the rest of Italy.
It is quite powerful stuff, and to an Italian audience living through the very same circumstances they were watching, especially those who may not have yet been touched by the American benevolence, the message would have been strong and clear. The message is blatant, but the filmmaking is actually stylized, and until the somewhat abrupt ending, Aquila shares much of the desperation, and ultimately hope, inherent to those masterpieces of Neorealist cinema made at the same time.
The other films do similar things, but in less lyrical fashion. A common practice was to make films targeted at specific areas or industries such as The Home We Love about the French town Mazamet and it’s wool-processing industry or The Invisible Link and Austria’s power industry which flourished due to the building of the Kaprun Dam in the mountains north of Salzburg. Both films are little documentaries supposedly narrated from a local’s first person perspective talking about why the industry is important to the locale, how bad things became during the war, and how much better they are now. Oh, and by the way, it’s all thanks to the programs of the Marshall Plan such as the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) or its spawn after the start of the Korean War, The Mutual Security Administration (MSA).
OK, so maybe I did have more to say about “Selling Democracy” than just “interesting,” and I would suggest checking-out some of these films if you have the opportunity. In addition to the “Selling Democracy” website, you can also learn a bit more about the entire Marshall Plan films program, and how to access the videotapes of you’re a researcher or something, by going to www.marshallfilms.org. Apparently there will also be a symposium about The Marshall Plan sponsored by The German Marshall Fund of the United States taking place this Saturday (10/16) from 2:30 to 5 PM at 1014 Fifth Avenue (across from The Met) which is free and open to the public.
Out of Focus 