“United we stand, divided we fall” means that we can rise if we work together, but we will fail if we are divided. Usually people say “united we stand” as a call for solidarity, but this movie emphasizes the “divided we fall” side, saying we are defeated if we don’t work together. The Japanese translation of the title is totally different from the original. The person who came up with the Japanese title (“What a Wonderful World”) may have had the song “What a Wonderful World”—which opposed the Vietnam War and prayed for a peaceful world—in mind. This song sung by Louis Armstrong was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam as background music for the impressive scene of idyllic rural landscapes in Vietnam during the war.
This movie is a Czech movie, and depicts the suffering of the people living under Nazi control, while indirectly depicting criticism of the occupation by the Soviet Union that followed. The historic background and the theme in this movie are similar to those in Želary, which premiered in 2003 (not released in Japan). Both were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the protagonist is forced to do unusual things—having to marry some unknown person in order to protect one’s life under Nazi oppression (Želary) or having another man impregnate one’s wife (Divided We Fall). The undercurrent in both movies is the sentiment of, “Although Germany was terrible, the Soviet Union that came after was worse.”
The Czech Republic faced a similar fate as Poland of being a victim of the conflict between Nazis and the Soviet Union in World War II, but neither initially regarded the Soviet Union as an enemy. Since imperial Russia adopted the strategy to expand their southern front in order to gain access to a sea route, Great Britain, an advanced imperialist nation, was wary of Russia. Also, Russia was in conflict with the Austro-Hungarian Empire for hegemony over the Balkan Peninsula. However, the Czech Republic and Poland may have had the feeling of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” regarding the Soviet Union who was the enemy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that ruled over them. Russians, Czechs, and Poles are all part of the same ethnic group called Slavs.
There were many ethnic groups and nations in Europe, but in the end it was four counties—Britain, France, Italy, and Germany—that determined the fate of Europe until the end of World War II. These four countries were very wary of the Soviet Union that was created by the communist revolution. Because the Germans have fought with Russia for a long time over the Balkan Peninsula, and there were a great number of Slavs within German territories who often rebelled, Germany and the Soviet Union were naturally archenemies; because of this, England and France expected that Hitler would lead Germany against the Soviet Union, which would not be a bad situation for England and France to be in. However, Hitler was not a fool. On August 23, 1939 he entered a non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union behind closed doors, and on the morning of September 1, the German army invaded Poland; on September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and World War II began.
This movie is set in a small town under Nazi control and depicts those who cooperate with the Nazis, those who secretly become part of the partisan, and those who shelter Jews. It is a story of ordinary people in a small town where each neighbor is living with their own extraordinary and frightening conditions. It maintains a humorous tone throughout the whole movie, and it helps that there are no violent scenes, but it is still quite a strenuous situation.
Josef and Marie, who are not able to have children, unexpectedly come to shelter a Jew named David. David’s father was Josef’s boss. Josef discovers David escaping from a concentration camp and returning to town; Josef violates the law requiring him to report a Jew, and instead gives David a meal and helps plan his escape, though it fails. Since simply not reporting David’s existence is punishable by death, Josef and Marie decide to shelter David, with the resolution of, “If you eat poison, eat the whole plate.” Their friend Horst, having a German wife, is a Nazi collaborator. Reluctantly, Josef works for Horst and pretends to be a Nazi collaborator in order to avoid suspicion. Horst becomes troublesome by developing illicit feelings for Marie and suspecting Josef and Marie of hiding something, but when Nazis are to search Josef and Marie’s house, Horst uses his status to protect them.
The Nazis lose and the Soviet Army arrives. Josef is to be executed as a traitor by the partisans, but he tries to explain that he did what he did because he was sheltering a Jew. One partisan wants to meet David as proof, but it was actually that partisan who first saw David when he had come back to the town. That partisan had panicked and shouted to the Nazi army, “There’s a Jew!!!” but since the Nazi army did not hear him, David had been able to escape. When this partisan and David meet again, they do not mention this incident and just silently nod at each other. Horst is to be executed as a traitor, but Josef tries to save him by putting his own life in danger.
In this movie, there is a scene of a soldier of the Soviet Army complaining, “I don’t know who the heck to believe.” This was the first time the Soviet Army invaded a neighboring country in Europe. They didn’t know how to handle the situation. There were probably many soldiers that committed barbaric acts. Also, even though they were welcomed on the surface, there were still Nazi collaborators in the town. How could the Soviet Army find these people? Želary also depicts the village at first welcoming the Soviet Army that enters, a young soldier who starts raping women in the village, and the Soviet Army fighting with the villagers due to increasing uncertainty about who to trust. While the British-American army liberated Italy and France without problems on the Western Front, the Soviet Union’s liberation of Nazi territory was quite complicated on the Eastern Front.
Having asked David the Jew to impregnate Marie in order to protect themselves from the Nazis, the movie ends with Josef holding the baby that was safely born. This scene has the feeling of the Annunciation from the Bible. If you think about it, all of the countries that Germany fought in World War II were Christian countries, and Jesus who created Christianity was Jewish. Is the message, “please read the Bible again before starting a war”?