It Happened Here (1966)

 Bloody Brilliant
In 1945, George Orwell wrote defiantly: "Few things in this war have been more morally disgusting than the present hunt after traitors and quislings. It best it is largely a punishment of the guilty by the guilty."

In the same humanistic yet brutally honest vein comes IT HAPPENED HERE, a 1965 "documentary-style" movie which speculates with terrifying frankness what a Nazi occupation of Britain might have been like. No film I've ever seen have addressed the subject of "collaboration" with such unflinching honesty, and I suggest this film is a must-see for those who still glorify the "resistance fighters" of Europe and view with contempt and hatred the everyday people who "volunteered" their services to their conquerers during the Second World War.

IT HAPPENED HERE speculates that the Germans invaded Britain in 1940, conquered the Islands, and set up a puppet government. Sapped by the ravenous demands of the Eastern Front, the Germans leave only a small garrison in Britain and depend largely on British "collaborators" to police the country, run the government, operate the social services, and so on. The film is told from the POV of Pauline, a widowed country nurse who is simply trying to get by in a country where half the buildings are in ruins, partisan warfare rages in the country, and just getting a decent job requires moral compromise.

IT HAPPENED HERE does not have a plot, per se; true to its documentary style it merely follows Pauline as she travels England, looking for work and trying with pathetic dignity to avoid taking a "side" either for the puppet government or the ruthless and ham-fisted partisan movement that opposes it. Every frame of the film hammers home the impossibility of living under occupation: Forced to join a collaborationist organization just to work, Pauline is ostracized by her friends (one of the movie's best scenes is an argument between Pauline and her doctor friend about the morality of fascism, collaboration and resistance), and yet her own sense of personal decency makes her a pariah among her new comrades. This ultimately leads to her being banished to the country, where what seems like an idyllic nursing-home job turns out to be a macabre nightmare. After spending most of the movie on the moral fence, Pauline must now make a consciously political act, but even this gives her no peace. And
in the end, however, the impending "liberation" (accompanied by frenzied radio broadcasts no less chilling than their Nazi counterparts) promises a classic British recipe: meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

IT HAPPENED HERE is brutally frank in its examination of what happens to ordinary people in impossible circumstances, and how war and occupation are machines for debasing human nature. The people we meet are a mix of fanatics, time-servers, patriots, cynics, and fair-weather sailors -- in other words, everyday folks who discover in extremis what kind of people they really are, and what they will (or won't) do for a soft bed, hot food and chance to live another day. The film's climactic scene, which features a vicious massacre of British SS volunteers (in the "Black Prince" volunteer SS division -- nice touch!) at the hands of the partisans while their German SS officers are allowed to honorably surrender, well demonstrates the doctor's schizoid (but possibly correct) view that "the horrible thing about fascism is you have to use fascist methods to destroy it."

I should say that IT HAPPENED HERE is frought with the problems which plague low-budget films. There is liberal, if skillful, use of stock footage; the acting is extremely inconsistent, the sound quality (especially at the beginning) is bloody hideous, and there is a clumsy amateurishness to some of the production. Getting through the first half-hour of the film isn't easy. But if you do, you will discover a b*llsy and brilliant little gem of a movie, one which has the moral courage to ask the most difficult possible question: "OK, but under those circumstances, what would YOU do?"











August 28, 2007

 What if...
The Germans invaded England after the English evacuation from Dunkirk in World War II? What if they conquered England and installed a wartime puppet government? What if... IT HAPPENED HERE? Or there, as the case may be. I sit an ocean and half a continent away from London as I write this, and estranged by nearly half a century from when this was made. Estranged less by time and space than by the fact that IT HAPPENED HERE simply isn't very entertaining.

The movie follows Pauline (Pauline Murray) from rural England, where she's amongst a group of citizens become combed out a partisan infested area and herded toward London. Upon reaching London she applies for work as a nurse. Which mean she has to join the Party. And wear the collaborating-with-the-enemy armband and uniform. And creep out some of her pre-war friends in the process.

IT HAPPENED HERE doesn't really make drama of the promising premise. The actors are amateurs, there's no rhythm to the story, the sound is so bad that at times it hard to understand what anyone is saying. A cool idea shot down by poor execution.

Of course, IT HAPPENED HERE'S story isn't all on the screen. Filmmakers Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo began this film in the mid-50s, when both were still in their teens. The lads seem to have been profoundly affected by Roberto Rossellini's Italian Neo-realist films like `Paisà' and `Open City,' two other low budget, amateur acted movies about World War II. One source says the budget for this movie was a meager $20,000, which, even accounting for inflation, makes IT HAPPENED HERE an amazing accomplishment. Although the story could have been more compelling - for instance, the sequence with real-life fascist Colin Jordan spouting his particular brand of garbage is more ridiculous than chilling - Brownlow and Mollo do some things remarkably well. Most notably incorporating German-uniformed actors in London, imparting a strong sense of characters in a real location. Also, there are some montage sequences and fake newsreels that work very well. Although I didn't much enjoy this one, I was mightily impressed with what the young filmmakers were able to do with enough money only for equipment and film stock.
November 23, 2005

 Fairly Amazing .."What If " Scenario in WW2 Britain..
If this was done on a shoe- string budget 39 years ago, one can only wonder what an updated version, in color, could be done nowadays. This 95 minute grainy black and white is sometimes just slightly hard to follow, probably only for a State Sider dealing with the "Brit" accents. Partly in documentary style, partly following a fairly naive, but good hearted nurse who finds the only way to assist her countrymen is to join the SS sponsored nursing service. Needless to say, some of her innocence is shattered. Some realistic fascist oriented discussions, funerals, reenactments of the Great War Christmas truce between the Brit and German soldiers, and some very daring battle and partisan scenes make this among the best War films ever. Shame it's not better known! July 6, 2005

 An alternate history
On a shoestring budget in 1956, directors Kevin Brownlow-now a preeminent film historian-and Andrew Mollo began work as teenagers on their Orwellian "It Happened Here"; with the help of hundreds of volunteers, they completed the film in 1964. In 1966 United Artists released the film with seven minutes of controversial material excised. In this version, Brownlow, having regained the rights to the film, restores the cut sequence-an ad-lib speech by Colin Jordan, head of the British National Socialist movement.

Brownlow and Mollo offer an alternate history of England, a vision of England under Nazi occupation after Germany has won World War II. Their use of grainy black-and-white photography and faux newsreel footage enhances the documentary-like realism.

The story follows an apolitical nurse, Pauline. Accepting a job with the Nazis in London, she comes to apprehend the ramifications of the occupation-radio stations, movies and magazines serving as propaganda organs for the Nazis and goose-stepping schoolchildren. Pauline finds herself caught between the galvanized resistance on one side and on the other, citizens who, for the sake of a quiet life, prefer to acquiesce.
May 21, 2005

 A believable alternative history of World War II
If you liked Len Deighton's detective thriller, "SS GB", set in Nazi-conquered England, you might enjoy "It Happened Here." To my way of thinking, this black-and-white film has the feel of a documentary. Its story of one person's realization of the creeping social evil in which she now lives is at once riveting and chilling. January 4, 2005

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