Does anyone recognize these two screengrabs?
[ by Charles Cameron — horses among the armored vehicles — a quick request to any movie mavens out there ]
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They’re from the montage of war clips in the first minute of the recent IS video that ends with the burning of the Jordanian pilot. Asra Nomani and Hala Arafa have a piece on MSNBC titled Inside the symbols and psychology of the Islamic State in which they identify some of the other films from which clips were taken:
First, the video steals footage of a U.S. warship, the “Liberty Ship,” from the HBO mini-series “The Pacific,” which aired in 2010, and was created by the producers of “Band of Brothers” – actor Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg. Next come battle scenes from “Flags of Our Fathers,” the Clint Eastwood movie about America’s WWII victory on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. These are followed by a scene from ”Enemy at the Gates,” a 2001 film starring Jude Law as a Russian sniper fighting Nazi Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad.
— but Nomani tells me she’s been unable to identify the film from which the images above were taken. I had noticed the horseman image too, and also wonder..
So if any ZP reader can recognize the film of origin, please let us know.
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Nomani and Arafa’s piece contains some other useful pointers, most of them to Islamic references in the video, so you may want to go read that, too.
Asra Nomani:
February 11th, 2015 at 7:01 pm
How very kind of you, sir. I love the power of crowdsourcing research. Your readers will appreciate that Islamic State propaganda team stole liberally from Hollywood battle scenes against Nazi Germany and its allies, overlaying them with narration that these were images of the “Crusaders” against “Muslim lands.”
Grurray:
February 11th, 2015 at 11:36 pm
Panzers, mounted Hussars, and oil rigs – could be the Caucasus Campaign.
I haven’t seen it, but was there anything in ‘Stalingrad’ about that one?
Cheryl Rofer:
February 12th, 2015 at 11:44 am
Oil rigs – could be Romania, too.
Eric:
February 12th, 2015 at 7:41 pm
It definitely looks like a videogame, though I haven’t watched the clip.
Grurray:
February 12th, 2015 at 9:36 pm
Good call. Yes, let’s see the clip.
Company of Heroes 2 is on the Eastern Front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsFk8wwMeww
Maybe we can compare the clip to the graphics on their trailers
Charles Cameron:
February 13th, 2015 at 5:24 pm
I’ve looked at a number of clips from Company of Heroes 2, nothing as yet…
Grurray:
February 13th, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Charles, I checked the CoH2 forums and it appears there are no mounted cavalry or infantry in the game. Some users were suggesting they should be added, and one disagreed because he didn’t want to see any horses harmed.
It looks like it’s probably not in this game.
What about posting the question on Reddit? http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/
Maybe you’ll get interest.
david ronfeldt:
February 16th, 2015 at 7:17 pm
here’s an explanation, but not an answer, that i just now read in graeme wood’s excellent article “what isis want” in recent atlantic magazine online:
“A recent propaganda video shows clips from Hollywood war movies set in medieval times—perhaps because many of the prophecies specify that the armies will be on horseback or carrying ancient weapons.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
adherence to minute detail in ancient prophecies is evidently keenly important, even if it means imagery seems anachronistic.
Charles Cameron:
February 17th, 2015 at 6:33 pm
Hi David:
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My initial response to the Atlantic piece was to be favorably impressed that someone was clearly stating that IS is a millennarian movement. Since then I’ve noted people I respect murmuring against it, and am hopeful we’ll soon have some substantial critiques.
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Meanwhile I have a piece of my owqn about Dabiq & apocalypticism which should be posted tomorrow by an outfit in the UK. I’ll give an excerpt and link here on ZP when that happens.