It Happened Here Review

It Happened Here
A documentary style film about how life could have easily been, had Germany invaded and captured England in the Second World War.

by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 2014

Running Time:

95 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

It Happened Here

A powerful semi-amateur drama depicting life in a 1944 that never was. The Nazis have invaded Britain and the country is riven with conflict between collaborators and US-backed partisans. Murray volunteers for a military nursing unit and is transferred to an eerily quiet extermination hospital.

The scenes of German soldiers marching through Trafalgar Square are unnerving and Mollo and Brownlow perfectly fake a propagandist newsreel presenting the official version of the situation, analysing via a Nazi discussion group the incipient fascism that has always been a part of our political make­up. The technically rough production and straggling storyline, somewhere between the aesthetics of The War Game and Night Of The Living Dead, may put off some viewers, but that's the price the film pays for being unique.

Frighteningly realistic, this well-shot documentary has taken even our news items into account, using them to show what might have been. The grainy black and white film and poor sound quality only help to enhance the reality of the piece.
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