World War II and Me (1976)

• 65%
• 1976
• Francis Lee

In 1976, Francis Lee edited footage he shot during the years 1941 to 1945 while an Army combat motion picture cameraman. A pacifist and painter living on New York City's East 10th Street before World War II, Lee initially requested classification as a conscientious objector. Realizing WWII was a war against racism, fascism and totalitarianism, he reconsidered, was classified 1-A and enlisted as an Army cameraman. The film looks back on his growing maturity as he moves closer to combat. Lee calls this a testimonial to "one man's initiation: mine." Scenes of basic training are followed by the 6 June 1944 D-Day landing at Omaha Beach, where his unit suffered a 75% loss, the Liberation of Paris and his visits in Paris with Pablo Picasso. Jonas Mekas commented, "His D-Day footage is so spectacular, so real that I don't think I have ever seen war footage as real, as believable. You know Lee was there and he took it all and you know it was a hell. His Paris liberation footage is about equally spectacular." The film concludes with Lee's return to East 10th Street at the war's end.