The Longest Day: realism and authenticity in war film

Film Analysis -- the Longest Day

The epic 1962 film the Longest Day recounted the historic Allied landings on five beaches in Northern France during the D-Day Invasion of June 6, 1944 that marked the beginning of the end for the brutal Nazi occupation of Europe throughout the Second World War. In the eighteen years since the actual events depicted, the motion film industry had already begun relying almost exclusively on color film, but the movie was shot in black and white (Eberwein, 2004). There were other notable features of the film. First, several of the cast were actual veterans of the invasion. Second, the film relied heavily on script advisers and consultants who were directly involved in the events, from both the Allied and the Axis side. Third, whereas almost all major motion pictures depicting foreign-language-speaking scenarios used English scripts, this film used authentic French and German-speaking actors and provided English subtitles for their lines (Eberwein, 2004).

Realism

To achieve greater realism, the film employed script advisers and military consultants who were all actual combatants in the D-Day invasion (Eberwein, 2004). They included both German and American generals, various in-theater commanders, airborne assault leaders, and others with first-hand knowledge, including members of the Free French who fought the occupying Nazis from behind the scenes throughout the French occupation. The U.S. Navy allowed the film to use several of the actual light cruisers that were involved in the landing, as well as numerous amphibious vehicles and the infamous "Higgins" boats often credited in large part for the success of the entire mission (Eberwein, 2004).

Realism and Social Response and Political Influence

In general, the film depicted combat scenes as realistically as was considered acceptable by the standards of the day (Katz, 1991). Certainly, there is no comparison to the graphic images of human carnage depicted in later films such as Saving Private Ryan, but at the time, the depiction was highly realistic. Critics suggested that strafing fighter aircraft would have made multiple passes rather than the single passes depicted, but few viewers without military combat experience would have noticed. By far, the realism of using native French, German, and British actors speaking their native languages added tremendous authenticity to the film (Eberwein, 2004).

There was some negative response to the use of former members of the German military, but because the U.S. participation in World War Two was universally supported and not a controversial topic (like Vietnam), public response to the film was generally very positive and the film only served to honor the sacrifices of the soldiers involved in the D-Day landings (Eberwein, 2004).