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This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This famous pseudo-documentary depicts what would potentially have occurred had the Nazi invasion of Britain during WWII been successful. It presents an interesting conjecture, to be sure, but one wonders what point was being made so long after the threat had been nipped in the bud, as it were…unless an analogous contemporaneous scenario (say, the Communist oppression rife in Eastern European countries) was being addressed!Anyway, the background to the movie under review is itself worth documenting: writer/director/cinematographer/editor Brownlow is best- known as a champion of film preservation (whose sterling work in the field was recently rewarded with an Honorary Oscar!); he was slated to introduce a September 2002 screening I attended of Erich von Stroheim's THE WEDDING MARCH (1928) at London's National Film Theatre but he eventually relegated it to an underling! Besides, Brownlow and his collaborator Mollo were still in their teens when they began work on IT HAPPENED HERE – which took some 7 years to complete! With this in mind, the semi-professional approach (some of it shot on 16mm stock, a cast almost exclusively made-up of unknowns and, reportedly, including Peter Watkins – himself an award-winning documentarist/movie director!) gives the whole an appropriate cine'-verite' feel.The episodic narrative follows the exploits of a female nurse who, witnessing the violence by a partisan group perpetrated on both the occupying German forces and collaborationist officials, misguidedly joins the local Nationalist Socialist movement which has arisen since the Reich's takeover. Visiting old friends, they are shocked to learn of her submission to Fascism – since they were themselves harbouring an injured resistance member and hoping she would help! However, when the couple is handed over to the authorities by a neighbouring cleric(!), she is transferred to a country-side hospital…only to discover that the elderly Jewish patients are being systematically exterminated by the staff! Ultimately, falling into the hands of the partisans herself, she willingly lends medical treatment to the wounded.

Upon first viewing It Happened Here, I was struck by the poor quality of the film. However, further viewings revealed the use of poor quality to be intentional. After reading of Brownlow's financial struggles in making the film, I'm awed at his creative use of available funds. I say that this film is not for the average American viewer for two simple reasons. One is that the average viewer does not typically appreciate ideological/experimental films, and this film is most certainly that. The second is because of the internationality of this film. The typical American viewer is used to seeing a quick plot development, usually intertwined with some sort of attention-keeper (explosions, comedy). The British of this film can be seen in its careful (and to most, slow) development.If one, however, wishes to view an artistic film (and has the patience and culture to do so), I would highly recommend It Happened Here. I applaud Brownlow and Mollo for their vision and for their talent in presenting sensitive and critical issues in a such an appropriate manner.

Being a Londoner, and born but a few months after England declared war onGermany, this film has always held a special significance for me. I originally saw it when it opened in London: a mere twelve years after the worst war in living memory, had ended. I saw it for the second time recently at a friend's house. To me, it is still the best film about the occupation of a country by a foreign army. In his book, "How It Happened Here", co-director, Kevin Brownlow explains how he got the idea tomake this film. He just happened to be walking down a London street, at themoment when a car screeched to a halt outside a shop. Four or so heavysetmen piled out of the car. They were dressed, recalls Brownlow, in greyovercoats in a style reminiscent of Russian KGB agents. All were bulky andacted in a furtive manner. It got Brownlow thinking: "what if....."On a budget that can only be described as miniscule, it took Brownlow and his co-director, Andrew Mollo, eight years to complete the film. It's shot in aquasi-documentary style, which makes it even more realistic. Their attention to detail is amazing considering the paucity of funds available - every uniform the actors wore was sewn by Mrs. Mollo. While I can't claim to personally 'remember' those years when London wasbombed constantly, I can recall the sound, or should I say lack of it (we were all inside a bomb shelter), when a German V-2 rocket (nicknamed a doodle-bug),ran out of fuel and plummeted to the ground. We were lucky: it landed but a few streets away, killing many, many people, breaking windows, shaking chimneys and covering all our possesions in a thick layer of soot!

A thought-provoking war drama, which began life as the spare-time project of an 18-year-old film-lover and his 16-year-old friend. Almost an amateur film, but intellectually spell-binding. Based on the counter-factual premise that Britain was successfully invaded following the Dunkirk retreat and liberated by the Americans at the end of World War II. The images of London streets thronged with German soldiers are unforgettable. It is a film concerned with what war and military occupation does to people's minds. Nightmarish, stomach-churning. You owe it to yourself to see this film. Cannot recommend too highly. (Please take a look at my slightly longer review under "Newsgroup Reviews")