RN Documentary: Footnotes from the Fields
From Radio Netherlands
| Part of the RN Documentaries series
| 00:29:29
Producers: Marijke van der Meer
Professor Koen Koch of Leiden University and students from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Cleveland State University in Ohio visit the cemeteries and battlefields of the Western Front in Flanders and northern France. The students, who are the same age as many of those who fought and died here, give their impressions and reactions to what they see and learn about the First World War.
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Review of Footnotes from the FieldsWith the popularity of the Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" dispatches the experiences of WWII are well documented. WWI is practically a forgotten war here in the United States. This documentary helps put the sacrifices that the common soldiers of all sides made in WWI. The minimal role that the US played in the total conflict has also been enlightening. As an American I have been taught that participation was more protracted and intensive then it really was. As the US becomes more entangled in the Iraq conflict I think this radio piece would be welcomed by anyone who has served in the military and to those who have family serving in harms way. The physical conditions of the battle are well explored and I could vividly imagine what it might have been like in 1918. The visit to the cemetery was particularly moving and most relevant when a young American student declares that "it only shows that in war everybody looses". |
Transcript
WORLD WAR I DOCO
Broadcast dates: Nov 10 + 12, 2004
Production number: 1003852
Duration: 29”30”
MUSIC: Regeneration ,tr.1,Garden of Death,comp. Mychael Danna, Varese Sarabande, VSD 6005, NOS CD-98502., 1 minute
JEFF 18A: It’s just amazing.. it’s real. (34”)
INTRO: Radio Netherlands presents:
“Footnotes from the Fields”
A new generation studies the First World War
Produced and presented by Marijke van der Meer
TRENCHES/DUGOUT
CONT 1: Just east of the town of Iepres in Flanders, a group of Dutch and American college students explore a World War I dugout and trenches at Santuary Wood. The students are roughly the same age as the young men who died here in 1917, when the Allies launched a deadly offensive in the pouring rain.
BRAM a: I’ve been living… (14”-28”)4 or 5 years sometimes. (33” + noise)
CONT 2: Bram Hendrikson is one of a group of st...
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Musical Works
WORLD WAR I BUMA INFO:
· Willem Vermandere, Duizend Soldaten, Dureco 1151242, Stemra 1989, C.206480, 1 min
· Poets of the Great War: “Base Details”, author Siegfried Sassoon, performer M. Maloney, NAXOS NA 210912, 30 sec.
· Regeneration, tr. 1 Garden of Death, 3’30”,Varese Sarabande, VSD 6005, NOS CD 98502.
· Regeneration, tr. 4, The Declaration, (see above), 50 sec.
· “Over There”, comp. Cohan, perf. E. Caruso, Pavilion Records, GEMM CD 9355, C.214707, 30 sec.
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Additional Information
- Produced: Oct 13, 2004
- Added to PRX: Oct 13, 2004
- This piece is in English
Kerry Seed
Posted on November 08, 2004 at 07:27 PM | Permalink
Review of RN Documentary: Footnotes from the Fields
"Footnotes from the Fields" provides listeners with a fresh context to consider the painful remnants of World War I. Radio Netherlands Producer, Marijke van der Meer takes listeners on a voyage to WWI's western front. Van der Meer follows a group of Dutch and American students who tour the battlefield with their professor. Listeners will hear students' reactions to their surroundings mixed with the explanatory sounds of the professor's tour and of museum guides. Van der Meer's slow narration provides greater historical context and additional layers of information.