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Transcript of martha gellhorn essay
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
MARTHA GELLHOR’S
“THREE POLES” DEBUTS
THIS WEEKEND AT NATIONWIDE LUSOMUNDO MULTIPLEXES
A new documentary of the awarded director
MIKE LEIGH
It is unusual to see documentaries in Lisbon Mul plexes. The last two decades are filled with
“blockbusters” more concerned with the ac on factor (commercial movies) or called aesthe cal
without any “substance”, i mean, with real ideas and revealing the memory of mes.
Mike Leigh, un famous english director, that has a long background in a lot of movies with social
thema cs, has put into film one of the more touching chapters of Mharta Gellhorn's "The Face of
War" ‐ Three Poles ‐ using smashing stock footage of World War II and recrea ng some drama
facts of the three encounters of Martha with the three characters of her war's ar cle.
The documentary, with the tle "Remembering Martha" gives us a singular idea of the persona‐
lity of a correspondent of war engaged with the fight and the resistance of all peoples, both in a
framework of war and in me of peace (what she has embraced in her early years in the United
States, during the Depression).
Mike Leigh also show us the thought of Martha Gellhorn, in her par cular approach to the
condi on of any vic mes (of war, of exploita on, or of poverty), that sugest what may be the
first step for a journalist to redifine his/her no on of objec vity when wri ng any field reports.
In this documentary, we can also see (in Martha's words) a strongest percep on of the human
condic on of the three people interviewed and their colec ve conscience of an ocuppied na on,
searching for liberty. ‐>
A FILM REVIEW BY RAUL REIS
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
Throughout one hour and ten, we are confronted
with an intense dialogue of three poles who have
had different life experiences, but with a common
sense of bi erness. An old farmer from Silesia
experienced a disturbing reality when he discovers
that his dignity is considered less than thus of he
animals living on his farm. He traveled four months
un l he reach London. He tells that the Germans
have destroyed all that didn’t interested them and
they developed a “burned earth” policy, similar to
that which would be carry out when they will be
defeated, later, in the Russian winter.
The Germans abused of women and send to
concentra on camps those poles who are no longer
able to work. Coal mines were occupied by German
workers. The coal extrac on and the cu ng of trees
were intensive. The farmers (as servants) s ll rise
before daybreak to work, eat li le (no meat or fats)
and for that reason are infected with tuberculosis.
“Three POLES” DEBUTS
A FILM REVIEW
London Pub where Martha Gellhorn talked with the three poles (studio set of the documentary)
Map of ocuppied Poland
Nazis carrying stolen art pain ng S from a polish museum
Concentra on Camp in Poland
Ghe
o street
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
The camera travels through the serene face of this
farmer (performed by Mark Lewis, an award‐winning
actor at Cannes), and occasionally rediscover Martha
Gellhorn (played by Mary Simpson), who is seated in a
high chair of the pub, drinking a small glass of
whiskey, and smoking his eternal cigare e, trying to
find on the face of the farmer a map of his life.
The farmer, between 40 and 50 years old ‐ the lines of
the face are confused ‐ revealed later that the German
SS and Gestapo feel that the “Final Solu on” will have
a future. So who commit massacres, not even bother to
hide them. However, german workers some mes
seems to test a friendship with the poles, gaining un
uncertainty of the same future.
For every word or every smile hiden by the farmer , we
can see endless minutes of archival footage, filmed
largely by the Nazis, exposing his own arrogance.
In the next scene, which occurred a week a er
(allegedly) in March 1944 Martha talks in the same
pub with a Polish student, three months before the
Allied landing in Normandy. This young student (a
convincing interpreta on of Leon Mark), about 30
years old , had come from Paris, and the eclosion of the
war did not surprise him. And he talked to Martha as if
they were a musical duet.
Polish farrmmers
Market in the Ghe o
Polish resistence
Streets repression
“Three POLES” DEBUTS
A FILM REVIEW
“Ocuppa on” ‐ realis c style work from a polish painter
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
Much of the conversa on with Martha was
around children, educa on (par cularly
technical, referring to the underground
resistance and the parallel state that was
organized). He was deported to the east
Prussia, and jump from the train and went
again to Warsaw with a disguise, risking his
life.
To Martha, all of these words seem to be of
litlle great heroes, perhaps
remembersing her mother, a
brave fighter for civil rights.
People with o fear. Only with
hope in the future.
In the last part of the
documentary Martha will find a
Jew who wants to fight again
germans and tells her about
their air of celebra on with the
random killing of people in the
streets: it's fun for them.
1944 BRITISH NEWSPAPER
Marke in the ghe o
Polish Streets repression
A FILM REVIEW
Ghe o causes health problems,
and the Germans do not want to
give drugs to Jews except for
horrible medical experiments
A er these three brief encounters
Martha returns home, , look at her
cigare e and in the same minute
out the window and think of
human stupidity, perhaps
an cipa ng future involvement in
other wars . Night falls in
London ...
Underground resistance, as told by the young man
LIFE , the most important photo
magaziine of all mes
“Three POLES” DEBUTS
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
Bryn Mawr College, that Martha dropped
out in 1929
St. Louis, where Martha was born in 1908
Edna Gellhorn, her mother
About the author of the book
A FILM REVIEW
London Pub where Martha Gellhorn talked with the three poles (ar s c set of documentary)
"Sed ut perspicia s unde omnis iste natus error sit
voluptatem accusan um doloremque laudan um,
totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore
verita s et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt
explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas
sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur
magni dolores eos qui ra one voluptatem sequi
nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum
quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia
non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et
dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim
ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercita onem ullam
corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea
commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure
reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil
moles ae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat
quo voluptas nulla pariatur?"
About the author of the book
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
Martha ‘s cover in Atlan
c magazine
Martha in London with Virgina Cowles
Colliers’s and St. Louis Post Dispach building
Martha in Italy, Mone Cassino’s front
About the author
A FILM REVIEW
London Pub where Martha Gellhorn talked with the three poles (ar s c set of documentary)
"Sed ut perspicia s unde omnis iste natus error sit
voluptatem accusan um doloremque laudan um,
totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo
inventore verita s et quasi architecto beatae vitae
dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem
quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed
quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ra one
voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam
est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet,
consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam
eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore
magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad
minima "Sed ut perspicia s unde omnis iste
natus error sit voluptatem accusan um
doloremque laudan um, totam rem
aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo
inventore verita s et quasi architecto
beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo
enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit
aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia
consequuntur magni dolores eos qui
ra one voluptatem sequi nesciunt.
Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem
"Sed ut perspicia s unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem
accusan um doloremque laudan um, totam rem aperiam,
eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore verita s et quasi architecto
beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam
voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed
quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ra one voluptatem
sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum
quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non
numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE
Spanish Civil War
The “ happy couple”: Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn
Libera on of DACHAU Martha’caricature by David Levine
About the author of the book
A FILM REVIEW
London Pub where Martha Gellhorn talked with the three poles (ar s c set of documentary)
"Sed ut perspicia s unde omnis iste natus error sit
voluptatem accusan um doloremque laudan um,
totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo
inventore verita s et quasi architecto beatae vitae
dicta sunt explicabo.
"Sed ut perspicia s unde
omnis iste natus error sit
voluptatem accusan um
doloremque laudan um,
totam rem aperiam,
eaque ipsa quae ab illo
inventore verita s et
quasi architecto beatae
vitae dicta sunt
explicabo. Nemo enim
ipsam voluptatem quia
"Sed ut perspicia s
unde omnis iste natus
error sit voluptatem
accusan um doloremque
laudan um, totam rem
aperiam, eaque ipsa quae
ab illo inventore verita s
et quasi architecto
beatae vitae dicta sunt
explicabo. Nemo enim
ipsam voluptatem quia
voluptas sit aspernatur
aut odit aut fugit, sed
quia consequuntur magni
dolores eos qui ra one
voluptatem sequi
nesciunt. Neque porro
quisquam est, qui
“Hoovervilles”, large ci es of poor people
afected by the Depression
London, Spring of 1944
AJUDA HIGHTS weekly CULTURE A FILM REVIEW
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE
(born 20 February 1943) is a
Bri sh writer and director of
film and theatre. He studied
theatre at the Royal
Academy of Drama c Art,
and studied further at the
Camberwell School of Art
and the Central School of
Art and Design.[2] He began
as a theatre director and
playwright in the mid
1960s. In the 1970s and
1980s his career moved
between work for the
theatre and making films
for BBC Television, many of
which were characterized
by a gri y "kitchen sink
realism" style. His well‐
known films include Life is
Sweet (1990), the comedy‐
drama Career Girls (1997),
the Gilbert and Sullivan
biopic Topsy Turvy (1999),
and the bleak working‐class
drama All or Nothing
(2002). His most notable
works are arguably Naked
(1993) for which he won the
Best Director Award at
Cannes,[3] the BAFTA‐
winning (and Oscar‐
nominated) Palme d'Or
winner Secrets & Lies (1996)
and Golden Lion winner
Vera Drake (2004).
MIKE LEIGH
About the director of the doc.