عنوان

Divided We Fall:

Number

LA124983

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Divided We Fall:

General Material Designation

[Article]

Other Title Information

Subtitles, Sound, and the Postwar Reconstruction of Language

First Statement of Responsibility

James Neufeld

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

This essay considers the ethical significance of language in a Czech film (Divided We Fall, 2000) about the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. It argues that linguistic shifts from Czech to German, to French, and to Yiddish, in both the dialogue and the lyrics to background music, expose the politically and ethically contested terrain of the film. Bilingual Czech nationals make subtle language choices depending on their circumstances, and those language choices gradually assume ethical significance as they highlight both the characters' prejudices and their small acts of heroism. Language itself thus becomes a guidepost to the film's examination of the ethically complicated choices which Nazi authority imposed on ordinary citizens. By paying close attention to language, one can see even the reviled Nazi collaborator in the film as attempting to assert some small measure of the human charity which his status as a collaborator contradicts. The paper concludes with a suggestion that the linguistic choices of the film contribute to a larger project of reclaiming the German language itself from the corruption it suffered because of its wartime use as the language of Nazi ideology and propaganda. This essay considers the ethical significance of language in a Czech film (Divided We Fall, 2000) about the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. It argues that linguistic shifts from Czech to German, to French, and to Yiddish, in both the dialogue and the lyrics to background music, expose the politically and ethically contested terrain of the film. Bilingual Czech nationals make subtle language choices depending on their circumstances, and those language choices gradually assume ethical significance as they highlight both the characters' prejudices and their small acts of heroism. Language itself thus becomes a guidepost to the film's examination of the ethically complicated choices which Nazi authority imposed on ordinary citizens. By paying close attention to language, one can see even the reviled Nazi collaborator in the film as attempting to assert some small measure of the human charity which his status as a collaborator contradicts. The paper concludes with a suggestion that the linguistic choices of the film contribute to a larger project of reclaiming the German language itself from the corruption it suffered because of its wartime use as the language of Nazi ideology and propaganda.

Date of Publication

2008

Physical description

559-568

Title

Religion and the Arts

Volume Number

12/4

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5292

Subject Term

CZECH-GERMAN RELATIONS

Subject Term

DIVIDED WE FALL

Subject Term

FILM THEORY AND CRITICISM

Subject Term

JAN HREBEJK

Subject Term

LANGUAGE

Subject Term

NAZIS

Subject Term

WORLD WAR II

James Neufeld

Call Number

10.1163/156852908X357407

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y