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Review: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
I won't lie, the moment I found out what kind of movie this was, I lost interest. This was a long war movie, with heavy teamwork vibes and themes of patriotism.
I think if you liked Guns of Navarone (which I did not), you would like this film. That was the first movie I thought of when I started this movie.
Spoilers.
Story
This movie focused on Robert Jordan, an American volunteer. He was tasked with detonating a bridge in Spain. Along the way, he meets friends, lovers, and enemies. At the end of the movie, Jordan was injured heavily, but he decided that he would stay behind and wait for the perfect moment to launch an ambush, while his allies fled.
At one point in the movie, Jordan was challenged by the locals, about why he was sticking his nose in their business. His reasoning was this was a war that would eventually affect USA if it was not stopped. To be honest, that was a concern of mine too, as it otherwise seemed presumptuous for an American to be the hero of a Spanish battle.
What took me out of the movie quite fast was the team of people that were introduced in rapid succession, and shown to be very friendly right off the bat. Jordan met a bunch of locals, and they all cozied up to him real fast, including of course a beautiful lady, Maria. The next part of the movie was spent building relationships, especially the romance, which was a bit offputting to me. It was clearly set up for a romance, and even if it was, I would have liked more buildup than just "these are the only two young and good-looking people at the camp, therefore they should get together." There was a whole monologue by Pilar about how she was ugly but Maria was beautiful and that she was jealous but that it would pass. I hated how love was made to be such a big part of this story, particularly so early on.
So clearly this story was somewhat of a hero fantasy, where Jordan was welcomed by the Spaniards and made their hero. I know this movie was based on a book and I haven't read the book, but those are my those on the story based on the movie.
Production
The production value was good. Not particularly captivating as it was supposed to be a time of war, the characters were mostly in hiding and not living very glamourously.
Characters
To be honest it was easy to forget most of the characters. As I mentioned, they were introduced very quickly, and it was hard to keep track of the ones who didn't have a big conflict in the story. I did feel that most of the characters fell into stereotypes which did not help me not enjoying the movie.
Robert Jordan was the American volunteer, nicknamed Roberto and Ingles. He was the hero. Cool, handsome, brave, patriotic.
Maria was the love interest, notably the only young woman at the camp. She had encountered trauma in her past, only revealed through her retelling, and otherwise didn't have much of a role other than worrying for Jordan's safety.
Pilar was the other woman at the camp, an older woman who was strongheaded. She was always in support of Jordan, and that gained him a lot of support at the beginning.
The rest of the guys kind of blended together to be honest. There was one man who didn't want to join Jordan, but came back later and was accused of doing so because he was a coward. I'm sorry but I was so checked out of this movie.
Themes
I recently watched Casablanca and I think a similar theme persisted here, which was patriotism above all. This movie was made in 1943, which would have been close to the war, and audience members would have been familiar with the story lines of the war, and thus this movie likely would have hyped them up more than it did me.
Overall
Oof, this movie was just not for me. I'm not one for war movies, but this one was such blatantly a hero fantasy that I could not pay attention :S
I think if you liked Guns of Navarone (which I did not), you would like this film. That was the first movie I thought of when I started this movie.
Spoilers.
Story
This movie focused on Robert Jordan, an American volunteer. He was tasked with detonating a bridge in Spain. Along the way, he meets friends, lovers, and enemies. At the end of the movie, Jordan was injured heavily, but he decided that he would stay behind and wait for the perfect moment to launch an ambush, while his allies fled.
At one point in the movie, Jordan was challenged by the locals, about why he was sticking his nose in their business. His reasoning was this was a war that would eventually affect USA if it was not stopped. To be honest, that was a concern of mine too, as it otherwise seemed presumptuous for an American to be the hero of a Spanish battle.
What took me out of the movie quite fast was the team of people that were introduced in rapid succession, and shown to be very friendly right off the bat. Jordan met a bunch of locals, and they all cozied up to him real fast, including of course a beautiful lady, Maria. The next part of the movie was spent building relationships, especially the romance, which was a bit offputting to me. It was clearly set up for a romance, and even if it was, I would have liked more buildup than just "these are the only two young and good-looking people at the camp, therefore they should get together." There was a whole monologue by Pilar about how she was ugly but Maria was beautiful and that she was jealous but that it would pass. I hated how love was made to be such a big part of this story, particularly so early on.
So clearly this story was somewhat of a hero fantasy, where Jordan was welcomed by the Spaniards and made their hero. I know this movie was based on a book and I haven't read the book, but those are my those on the story based on the movie.
Production
The production value was good. Not particularly captivating as it was supposed to be a time of war, the characters were mostly in hiding and not living very glamourously.
Characters
To be honest it was easy to forget most of the characters. As I mentioned, they were introduced very quickly, and it was hard to keep track of the ones who didn't have a big conflict in the story. I did feel that most of the characters fell into stereotypes which did not help me not enjoying the movie.
Robert Jordan was the American volunteer, nicknamed Roberto and Ingles. He was the hero. Cool, handsome, brave, patriotic.
Maria was the love interest, notably the only young woman at the camp. She had encountered trauma in her past, only revealed through her retelling, and otherwise didn't have much of a role other than worrying for Jordan's safety.
Pilar was the other woman at the camp, an older woman who was strongheaded. She was always in support of Jordan, and that gained him a lot of support at the beginning.
The rest of the guys kind of blended together to be honest. There was one man who didn't want to join Jordan, but came back later and was accused of doing so because he was a coward. I'm sorry but I was so checked out of this movie.
Themes
I recently watched Casablanca and I think a similar theme persisted here, which was patriotism above all. This movie was made in 1943, which would have been close to the war, and audience members would have been familiar with the story lines of the war, and thus this movie likely would have hyped them up more than it did me.
Overall
Oof, this movie was just not for me. I'm not one for war movies, but this one was such blatantly a hero fantasy that I could not pay attention :S