Sahara and WWII Eric Nelson
Despite Sahara being predictable and having lame special effects, I was ultimately still able to enjoy the movie. It made me laugh, possibly unintentionally, but regardless I found it humorous. Sahara’s propagandistic purpose was bluntly evident throughout the entire movie, forcing me to classify it strictly as a propaganda piece. It followed practically every theme the government outlined. The issues of war were addressed in a conversation in which one of the characters is telling Bogart’s character how they are better than the enemy because of freedom. It shows the nature of two enemies, German and Italian, in the prisoner’s conversation, in which we are told the German’s are ruthless killers to the soul and are full of hatred, while the Italian’s are just fighting a war out of fear of what will happen to their families if they don’t. The movie obviously lays out the United Nations and the fighting forces by adding the English medical unit, “Frenchy�, and the Sudanese solider to the expedition. Sahara briefly discusses the production front and the home front when the Italian makes reference to his brother-in-law from Pittsburg who works in a steel mill, which could have helped to build the Lulu Belle.
The idea of war evoked depravities is clearly represented in Sahara. One example is when the German prisoner stabs the Italian prisoner in the back for not following orders. Another is when the German commander orders his men to fire on Frenchy, while his back is still turned. Another example of this depravity is when we find out the German prisoner who drank the water was executed for talking to the enemy. The morale consequences of fighting and dying for one’s country are addressed by Bogart’s character Joe Gunn. His speech about staying to stall the enemy being every soliders duty, even though they have families, and how it is most likely that they will all die, shows the consequences of fighting and dying for one’s country so that one’s country wins and protects the ideals they believe in.
The film does not reflect the reality of the emphasis of race in the military at that time, but instead shows a black man being a hero. The purpose of the gallant Sudanese solider was to get minorities to sign up for the war effort in hopes of the same glory that they could never attain due to racism. There was reference to wives and girlfriends back home, but no female characters in the film. This is because at that time the women’s place was not on the battlefield, but rather back home in the factories. This did not significantly take away from the movies persuasive purposes because it still made the point that we, the Americans and our allies, are good and that we will win because we’re smarter and righteous, while the enemy, who is bad and deceitful, will ultimately lose.