In Focus: The Fatal Alliance—A Century of War on Film

In Focus: The Fatal Alliance—A Century of War on Film

March 6–March 27, 2024

We welcome film historian David Thomson back to BAMPFA for this lecture/screening series following the publication of his new book, The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film. Thomson offers a lecture before each film and leads the post-screening discussions.

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  • Black-and-white film still of a soldier in WWI-era French helmet crawling through a muddy trench, gripping a pistol.

    Paths of Glory

  • A Man Escaped

  • They Shall Not Grow Old

  • 1917

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • In Focus: A Man Escaped

    Robert Bresson
    France, 1956

    Lecture & Screening

    Wednesday, March 6 3:10 PM
    Lecture by David Thomson

    From the true account of a Resistance leader who escaped from a Nazi prison just before he was to be executed, Robert Bresson created a film where the drama is all internal. “Essential viewing” (Jonathan Rosenbaum).

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  • In Focus: Paths of Glory

    Stanley Kubrick
    United States, 1957

    Lecture & Screening

    Wednesday, March 13 3:10 PM
    Lecture by David Thomson

    A grand entry in the pantheon of great antiwar films, Paths of Glory stands beside films like All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Grand Illusion (1937), and King and Country (1964) for its on-target treatment of the terrors of war, but it stands alone for its fearless criticism of the high command and its obvious rank.

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  • In Focus: They Shall Not Grow Old

    Peter Jackson
    United Kingdom, New Zealand, 2018

    Lecture & Screening

    Closed Captioned

    Wednesday, March 20 3:10 PM
    Lecture by David Thomson

    Director Peter Jackson and team took hours of silent war footage, digitally restored and retimed it, researched existing museum collections for correct colors, and added foley effects or veteran’s oral histories to create a contemporary epic of a century-old war and a snapshot of a society—and countless lives—now gone.

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  • In Focus: 1917

    Sam Mendes
    United States, United Kingdom, 2019

    Lecture & Screening

    Closed Captioned

    Wednesday, March 27 3:10 PM
    Lecture by David Thomson

    “Astonishing as the filmmaking can be at times, it’s [Sam] Mendes’ attention to character, more than the technique, that makes 1917 one of 2019’s most impressive cinematic achievements” (Peter Debruge, Variety).

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