Phoebe Hinkle's Blog: Chronicler's Corner

I know the title of this post sounds really weird and mystical, but don’t worry, it’ll make more sense once I explain.

But first, things are happening!

I have a book signing this Saturday (August 30) at Bonsai Books (in Cheyenne) from 1-3! This is the launch party for We Gave Our Tomorrows, which I’ve been trying to coordinate since May, lol. Oh well, that’s the way life goes. And looking further out, on October 11 I’ll be at the Cheyenne library’s annual Local Authors Celebration, whi...

Hello friends! I’ve been looking forward to this post for a long time. Today I’m trading interviews with the lovely Savannah Jane McCrary of History Redeemed. She’s interviewing me about We Gave Our Tomorrows on her blog and I’m interviewing her about her upcoming WWII book, Trains and Tulips. I got the chance to be a beta reader for Trains and Tulips (and yes, you’ll probably be hearing more about that as it gets closer to publication!)

My questions are in bold, and Savannah’s answers a...

Hello friends! You know how a while back I complained that there aren’t many good WWII books out there? Well, not too long after I posted that, I got the chance to beta read a novel about the Dutch Resistance in WWII – Trains and Tulips by Savannah Jane McCrary. Guys, it was SO GOOD! I’ve never read about the Dutch Resistance before, and Savannah is a really good writer. It definitely hit ALL the right notes for what I want to see in a Christian WWII novel.

So, all this to say that Trains a...

Hi, peeps! (I love saying that, lol. I'm a mother hen so y'all are my peeps ) Annnyway, I've promised this post to someone for a while - and keep forgetting it - so I'm finally gonna do it!

Not gonna lie, I find it easier to look up to male characters than female ones in fiction. Idk why, really? Maybe because I'm a girl, or maybe because guys get to do all the fun and epic stuff. (Okay, and not so fun stuff . . . like getting shot every other episode, and beaten up by their author . . . b...

Inspired by this post from Miss Special @SheKindaWrites, I decided to share a list of 30 things that make me happy! (Some of them are copied from my response to her post.) Be warned that a lot of these are really random

hearing songs I know on the radio (that’s rare for me because I don’t know 99% of the songs most stations play )my orange cat sleeping with me at nightwatching a new episode of Combat! (as long as it doesn’t end up being a stupid one )guns (random fact: the Tomm...

Morning, folks . . . *yawns* . . . ‘scuse me, I need more sleep. But anyway, I have a couple things for you this morning . . . the first is a short story about Sgt. Parker from We Gave Our Tomorrows (contains spoilers, though, so be warned!) and that’s on the WGOT website (I’ll probably put it on here too at some point).

Second thing is the Goodreads Tag, which I stole from Katja Labonté @ Little Blossoms for Jesus! My answers probably won’t be very long, since I don’t have as many books l...

There’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve noticed that it’s very hard to find good war stories, especially any set in modern conflicts. Oh, I know there are PLENTY of WWII books out there – but most of them are romance, and those that aren’t are probably full of gore, language, and *ahem* other stuff that I don’t want to be filling my head with. This makes it really hard for Christian history nerds like me, who just want a good soldier story without the ugliness. (Yes, I ...

Happy 4th of July, friends! After Christmas, this is probably my favorite holiday. I love our great country and I’m so thankful to God for preserving her all these years. Don’t be afraid to speak up and express your patriotism – America needs it! We must keep her free for the sake of the next generations, and make sure they know of the sacrifices that generations past made to protect her.

(And to all my non-American readers – I definitely appreciate you, so know that I am an outspoken pa...

At the end of the Combat! episode "The Medal", Saunders asks a very important question: "What makes heroes, Lieutenant?" (the title of this post). Lieutenant Hanley's answer, I'm sure, is meant to get the audience thinking: "You tell me, Sergeant."

Now I'm sure Hanley realizes he's talking to a living embodiment of heroism at the moment - because Saunders is a great example of a hero - but let's back up for a minute. What, exactly, does make heroes? It's something I've considered many tim...

Genre: War movie
Run Time: 1:24
Rating: T (Tutti, Italian for ‘everyone’)

My rating:

I don’t even remember what prompted us to watch this movie. I know my dad came across it while doing an internet search, but I don’t remember why he was looking up Folgore paratroopers . . . pretty sure, though, that it had something to do with the research we were doing on the Italian army for one of our game projects. Also, my brother is super interested in paratroopers, especially the Italian and German ones.

Oh, and did I mention? This movie is entirely in Italian, all except for the 3 or so lines spoken by the British (I think they’re likely New Zealanders, actually). Yes, I watched it without subtitles. I probably would’ve understood a few things better if I’d had subtitles, but I was able to pick things up well enough, despite the rapid-fire dialogue, thanks to the smattering of French I’ve retained.

Plot

Anyway! The movie follows the paratroopers of the Folgore Division in WWII. It starts out in the desert of North Africa, then goes back to their training and preparation for the intended paradrop on British-occupied Malta. Things don’t go as planned, though, and the paracudisti find themselves instead taken to North Africa, unable to use all the cool drop training they got. The climax of the film is the lengthy tank-busting section at El Alamein, where the soldiers are doing Hollywood-worthy but 100% accurate cool stuff, like ducking under driving tanks to stick mines on them (ala the movie poster), jumping on them to blow the turret with dynamite, epic stuff like that. No spoilers here if you know the history, but despite their heroics things don’t go well for the paratroopers, and the last scene is of rows of white crosses out in the desert. (The Italians got destroyed at Alamein – though they inflicted terrible losses on the British – and had to retreat, many of them on foot, across the desert.)

(I love that picture of the paratroopers marching out to their planes before the trip to Africa! It’s one of my favorite desktop backgrounds. #nerd )

Characters

The writers didn’t spend a whole lot of time developing the characters, which is understandable – it’s a history film, not a character-focused one. But there are a few that I liked:

Delavigne, with his unruly hair and his dog Micci This young man is afraid of heights – likely he didn’t realize it when he signed up, but being up on a 70-foot jump tower is enough to make anyone have second thoughts! He almost didn’t make it as a paratrooper, but the Colonello (more on him in a minute) gave him another chance.

Oh, and he does get to keep Micci, even though technically dogs were forbidden . . . she comes with him on jumps and carries a first-aid pack.

Gabriele, a former monk or friar – I’m not sure which. Religion was highly important in the Italian army, and each unit had their own chaplain. Gabriele doesn’t care much for heights either. He frequently helps the medics.

I love his face – he looks so warm and friendly, like the kind of guy I could trust right away.

Colonello Cecchi, the one who gives Delavigne a second chance. And no, this is not just because I like blond guys, though I think that perfect, no-hair-out-of-place style is probably natural. I like him because he looks like a very professional soldier, yet also very understanding. He obviously cares about his men, given all the encouragement he offers Delavigne.

Dislikes

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

*takes a deep breath*

Okay, I REALLY dislike how they killed off Delavigne in practically the first action in North Africa. Not only is it sad, it’s also not great from a storytelling perspective (and it made me sad for the rest of the movie). He’s pretty much the only character they spent much time developing, only to get rid of him halfway through the movie. You don’t just do that to your kid characters! If he had to die, it should have been something epic at the end, not a stupid machine gun on a stupid night patrol.

It is impactful in a way, though, in that it gets across the complete impartiality and tragedy of war. I wouldn’t have killed him off, but war is not an author; young lives like his can get snuffed out at once, and the world goes on except for a few broken hearts at home. Delavigne represents all those seemingly useless sacrifices made by soldiers whose deaths don’t lead to anything of military value.

(Enough of me being depressing. As usual when I’m mad about stuff like that, I have it as headcanon that he wasn’t killed, just badly wounded and captured by the British, and he survived in the end. )

(Honestly, though – how can you kill off a face like that?!)

Family Friendly?

Depends on your family. It’s black and white, so that always makes things better. And it’s from the 50s, when movies were still kept pretty clean. As far as I know, there’s no language; but then, I don’t speak Italian (yet). There’s nothing gory, and while it’s implied that some nasty fates befall some of the guys in the tank-busting scenes, it’s never shown. Several guys are bandaged, and you can tell when there’s blood, but it’s nothing too bad. So, it’s up to you, but given the intensity of war, I wouldn’t watch it with young kids or sensitive folks (like my mom).

This is the version we watched. Only the first hour-thirty or so is the film; the rest is all scenes from the film that got repeated, for whatever reason? This version doesn’t have subtitles, so if you want to follow what they’re saying, you may want to find another version. I don’t suggest the color one; it was automatically colored and the filter has a lot of issues. Delavigne got a blue ear at one point.

Final Thoughts

Overall, despite my sadness over Delavigne, I really enjoyed this! I found it all fascinating, since I didn’t know anything about the Folgore before. This movie is going to live on in our crazy alternate universe for a while, as we have a few Legos named after the characters, and I wrote a few ridiculous fanfics about them on my typewriter. (It also gave me some *ideas* . . . *cough cough* )

Recommended!