BLReed
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2009
- Messages
- 1,676
Every once in a while you run across a jewel of a film. Some English, but mostly sub-titled. Well done and a bit light-hearted,
in parts.
"Set during one of the most turbulent times in history - the Second World War - and inspired by true events, THE THIRD HALF is a story of one of the most important things in the world: football. Dimitry, the owner of the small Macedonia Football Club, has more pressing worries on his mind than the war: his team hasn t won a match and his star player, Kosta the Count, is more focused on gambling, pick-pocketing and skirt chasing than football. Unbelievably, the situation only worsens when Kosta falls in love with Rebecca, the stunning daughter of a stern Jewish banker. As the team continues to lose one game after another, a desperate Dimitry hires notorious task master Rudolf Spitz: a German legendary for his inflexible discipline and hard work. But just as Spitz s work begins to pay off, the Nazi tanks roll through Macedonia, and the team finds itself at the very center of the war.
In February 1943 Bulgaria and Germany signed an agreement stipulating the deportation of Bulgarian Jewry to camps in Poland. Initially Bulgaria was to deliver 20,000 Jews to the Germans. The plan's first step called for the "purification" of the Bulgarian occupied territories of Thrace and Macedonia... In March 1943 Bulgarian police rounded up the Jews of Thrace and Macedonia at night and placed them in detention camps under extremely harsh conditions. Their property and their houses were confiscated prior to their deportation in the later part of the month. Sealed trains transported 11,384 Jews, mainly via the Danube River, to death camps, from which almost none returned.
The film was selected as the Macedonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards [2013], but it did not make the final shortlist
Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament—expressed outrage over the film and called upon European Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle to reprove the Republic of Macedonia over the film. They claimed the film is as an "attempt to manipulate Balkan history" and "spread hate" on the part of the Republic of Macedonia against its neighbours. The director of the film denied the accusations; he and the film crew have described the objections to the film as an example of Holocaust denial."
in parts.
"Set during one of the most turbulent times in history - the Second World War - and inspired by true events, THE THIRD HALF is a story of one of the most important things in the world: football. Dimitry, the owner of the small Macedonia Football Club, has more pressing worries on his mind than the war: his team hasn t won a match and his star player, Kosta the Count, is more focused on gambling, pick-pocketing and skirt chasing than football. Unbelievably, the situation only worsens when Kosta falls in love with Rebecca, the stunning daughter of a stern Jewish banker. As the team continues to lose one game after another, a desperate Dimitry hires notorious task master Rudolf Spitz: a German legendary for his inflexible discipline and hard work. But just as Spitz s work begins to pay off, the Nazi tanks roll through Macedonia, and the team finds itself at the very center of the war.
In February 1943 Bulgaria and Germany signed an agreement stipulating the deportation of Bulgarian Jewry to camps in Poland. Initially Bulgaria was to deliver 20,000 Jews to the Germans. The plan's first step called for the "purification" of the Bulgarian occupied territories of Thrace and Macedonia... In March 1943 Bulgarian police rounded up the Jews of Thrace and Macedonia at night and placed them in detention camps under extremely harsh conditions. Their property and their houses were confiscated prior to their deportation in the later part of the month. Sealed trains transported 11,384 Jews, mainly via the Danube River, to death camps, from which almost none returned.
The film was selected as the Macedonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards [2013], but it did not make the final shortlist
Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament—expressed outrage over the film and called upon European Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle to reprove the Republic of Macedonia over the film. They claimed the film is as an "attempt to manipulate Balkan history" and "spread hate" on the part of the Republic of Macedonia against its neighbours. The director of the film denied the accusations; he and the film crew have described the objections to the film as an example of Holocaust denial."
