Interim Film Review - The Good Fight

One of the benefits of chronic insomnia is the ability to watch endless amount of film. That being said, I am able to watch movies I never would have been able to see if I had the standard 16-hour waking life.

I just watched The Good Fight - a film about Americans who formed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to Spain to fight for the Loyalist cause in the Spanish Civil War. They fought against the Fascist and eventual victor and dictator, Francisco Franco. The Loyalists ended up losing, but what its government achieved during their short period of rule, along with the courage and resourcefulness of their soldiers from every walk of life and every nation, is remarkable.

The film's strength is its reliance, almost solely, on interviews with the American veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Even though there are no major revelations, and frankly, no surprises, this film has a warm quality -- as though your own grandfather was telling his story to you beside a fire... or a poster of Rosie the Riveter.

The one aspect of the film that is important to note is that while there were several women, African-Americans, and African-American women who joined with the brigade, the film does not refer to the fact that this was the first American (para) military unit that was not segregated by sex or gender. The filmmakers could have played this up a bit more, but it seemed they were more interested in the individual stories. Who could blame them? Some of them are fantastic.

There is one interviewee who tells the story of being in the hospital in Spain after being shot in the foot only to be visited by his father who had come all the way from the states to bring him home when he heard about it. After seeing his son and the way in which the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was helping the cause of the legitimately elected Spanish government, his father attempted to join the cause himself, only to be dissuaded from military action and sent back to drum up financial support.

The Good Fight is narrated by Studs Turkel, who until his fairly recent death, was the pre-eminent oral historian of our time. He does a great job. I would suggest reading his book, The Good War, which is his collection of oral histories of World War II.

I recommend The Good Fight, especially if you're unfamiliar with the Spanish Civil War.