:
Pauline Murray,
Pauline Murray,
Sebastian Shaw,
more...
:
Andrew Mollo,
Kevin Brownlow,
Kevin Brownlow,
more...
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Image Entertainment
: Drama, Foreign, Science Fiction , British Drama, UK
: 96 min.
: English
see additional details...
This title is currently out of print.
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Fledgling filmmaker (and future film historian) Kevin Brownlow worked in collaboration with Andrew Mollo for nearly ten years to create It Happened Here. Shot on 16-millimeter stock in stark quasi-documentary fashion, the film is predicated on the postulation that Germany had invaded--and defeated--England in World War II. Brownlow and Mollo's vision of this nightmarish world is perfect in every detail, right down to the German road signs in rural Britain. The plotline is carried by Pauline Murray, playing a nurse who uncovers Nazi atrocities perpetrated on Polish and Russian hospital patients. Begun in 1957 when Brownlow was an 18-year-old editing apprentice, It Happened Here was finally completed in 1964, and released theatrically two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| Sinister, realistic, superb.
by tdoran1
October 23, 2005 - 5:49 PM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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| This film couldn't be better and strikes you as more amazing for its very modest budget. Clearly a labor of love, completely believable, a drama/mockumentary of the highest caliber. The most effective part: interviews from English chumps trying to justify their belief in fascism with the metaphor of society as a tree whose sick branches must be cut. More people need to see this film, and more films like this need to be made about what might have happened, and might still happen: not only in terms of naziism but also how societies will operate under certain conditions. This sort of film is the reason why science fiction exists -- although it's not a science fiction film in the sense of ray guns and space travel, it is in the sense of an alternate future. It's up there with 1984. I cannot recommend it more highly. Even if you don't like it as much as I do, it will be worth your while to rent. |
| An alternate history that is actually a little worse than the one we're living in.
by wes2666
September 29, 2004 - 9:12 PM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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| A neo-realist alternate history showing a collaborationist England under the control of the Nazis. The film is best when it shows practical, "stiff-upper lipped" British citizens convincing themselves that order--any order--is better than resistance and anarchy. It is also disturbing to hear National Socialist rhetoric spoken with an English accent. This film had a low budget for its ambition, but I actually think that (with a few exceptions) the cost-cutting methods were good choices. They give the film a solid documentary feel, where a glossier production might have felt like a novelty. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.63)
27 Votes
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