[Afamilyatwar-list] AFAW at 50

[Nick Hallett]

I would choose Hellmut Regler in “Two Fathers” because of what he symbolises.

One of the strengths of A Family at War is that the viewer is able to glimpse the impact of the war on a wide range of people in different parts of the country and in all corners of society, well beyond Liverpool and the Ashtons.  We begin to realise there are tens of thousands of stories, of which we can glimpse a only few, as the lives of the characters of those stories temporarily coincide with the lives of the Ashtons.

Two Fathers is the only episode that crosses enemy lines, when we see for the first and only time the effect the war has had on German society.  Edwin and the Ashtons have been devastated by the war, but the impact on Hellmut’s family is even greater: all four sons have been lost and what remains of the family lives in a bombed out ruin, with a delinquent daughter and a sick mother for whom the father can’t obtain medicine.  And around them, German society is barely functioning, with cigarettes being used for money and children running wild in the ruins.

The viewer is left with the realisation that, while we have been watching the story of the Ashtons, the untold story of the Reglers has been unfolding in a different part of Europe.

Nick Hallett

> On 7 Jan 2020, at 18:12, Veit, Richard via Afamilyatwar-list <afamilyatwar-list at baylor.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
>  
> <image001.png>
>  
> To begin our AFAW at 50 surveys, here is a question about one-hit wonders. . . .
>  
> Among the following male characters who appeared in only a single episode of "A Family at War," which would be your personal favourite and why?
>  
>  
> Norton (Tenniel Evans in "To Die for Spain")
>  
> <image002.png>
>  
>  
> Hellmut Regler (George Pravda in "Two Fathers")
>  
> <image003.png>
>  
>  
> Eddie Chappell (Michael Williams in "For Strategic Reasons")
>  
> <image004.png>
>  
>  
> Penty Bartholomew (David Wood in "Lend Your Loving Arms")
>  
> <image005.jpg>
>  
>  
> Please send your answer to our regular emailing address:
>  
> afamilyatwar-list at baylor.edu
>  
> We look forward to hearing from you!
>  
> Richard Veit
>  
> _______________________________________________
> Afamilyatwar-list mailing list
> Afamilyatwar-list at baylor.edu
> https://mailman.baylor.edu/mailman/listinfo/afamilyatwar-list
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/afamilyatwar-list/attachments/20200108/07f7b110/attachment-0001.html>