Emma Watches: Land and Freedom

For those of you who can't guess what this post may be about; this post is my reaction to the Ken Loach film Land and Freedom. Ken Loach English film director and is known for mainly being a social realist. My oldest brother, Matt introduced me to Ken Loach little over a year ago when he told me of a must see movie called The Wind that Shakes the Barley (anyone who hasn't seen this film, MUST see it! At least once!). And after watching another Ken Loach movie (Kes), I found Land and Freedom and was intrigued by the story.

The film takes place during the Spanish Civil War and tells the story of David Carr, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The thing that intrigued me about the movie, was that it was about Communists revolting against fascists. Being American and the daughter (and granddaughter) of a Cold War Era father (and grandfather) there has always been this fear of Communism, but after watching this movie I realized that everything isn't so black and white. In the film, David Carr (the narrator of the film) writes home to his love, Kit, telling her about the equality they all had. How everything was voted on. And really it sounded like a nice thing. Everyone was paid the same, everyone was treated equally.

Really, the idea of Communism isn't all that bad. The idea of a society where everyone shares everything and where everyone is equal sounds like utopia. But unfortunately, it is unrealistic. Because everyone thinks differently and really, in all honesty no one can truly be equal. This is seen when fighting breaks out between two militias (that were supposed to be fighting the same war against the Fascists). They shouldn't be fighting one another, and yet they are. They both stood for something different. One side wanted aid from Stalin (leader of the Soviet Union. Aid from Stalin would mean that the POUM or other militias would lose their independence and be under the Soviet Union) and the other wanted to keep their independence and not be Stalin's pawn.

So after years of thinking Communism was an 'evil' thing, this movie made me was almost a wake up call. Not everything is black and white. I was never good at talking about political movies, because usually I don't think I know what I'm talking about and end up sounding like an idiot. Before watching this film I didn't even know Spain had a civil war. Spain is just one of those countries that you just never learn about. It was an interesting portrayal of Communism and does keep you thinking after wards.

These are just thoughts I had on the film, some of my ideas may be wrong, but these are just thoughts...