Revisionism in Movies – Evidence, Interpretation & Perspectives

The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Introduction

More and more, mainstream movie producers & writers are finding rich material in personal, cultural & political material. Some movies focus on unique personalities, others on events and developments themselves. Nonetheless, History has become more ‘topical’ due to producers taking on both ‘sensitive’ and sometimes unknown topics for portrayal. A more human, personal and biographical mode has emerged in recent years, rather than ‘accepted’ and often superficial treatments of broad events in history. However, Propaganda and clear Bias is as ever, a clear and present danger as at any time in modern history.

Revisionist History

Revisionism has become a hot topic in contemporary film-making and docu-dramas. Information and new evidence can, and is, shared instantaneously in the Information Age. Accepted histiographies are continuously and repeatedly challenged, altered, amended and even attacked. Whole schools of ‘Revisionism’ have emerged – from Holocaust Denial to Marxist Revisionism. Whereas Holocaust denial attempts to argue that something ‘never happened’, Marxist Revisionism attempts to ‘re-interpret’ the original Marxist Ideology as set out in the Communist Manifesto (1848). The reality is that however controversial new Evidence and findings may be in relation to certain topics, ‘Revisionism’ has always been the most critical and natural mode of up-dating and clarifying past events, especially where political propaganda and/or censorship has previously constrained researchers and historians.

In the mainstream, movies are a tool to re-interpret and explore more discrete aspects of history. This is most often done through focus on an idealised main character(s), an interpretation of a main character(s) or a more critical evaluation of a main character(s) and periods.

Interpretation

Wherever possible, we will include both the Primary Source Evidence (original recording of person/event) and the Secondary Source ‘Interpretation’ (movie clip). Viewers can decide on the accuracy of the Interpretation and whether Perspective has in any way altered the Reliability of that Interpretation. Student Reviewers will comment extensively on the element of ‘Perspective’ with regard to the ‘Interpretation’.

Each movie clip is accompanied by an original synopsis by a 4th Year History Student. Hstorical inaccuracies, bias & selectivity are the other characteristics to be identified in this section.