Chapter 28: Conversations while watching.
Black Sea, 9:30 pm
Hilda, El and Kay were watching a movie on TV, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a classic of American science fiction from the 1950s. Hilda watched it closely, as it was one of her favorite films, and Kay was also interested; instead El, while intent on looking at film, was lost in thoughts of her.
Hilda hates tankathlon… She called it a barbaric and violent sport. And it is illegal throughout the European Union… Yet I have never heard of Tankathlon outside of Japan.
Then she had an epiphany. Europe was the cradle of armored warfare: the first tanks, such as the British Mark IV, the French Renault FT and the German A7V had taken their… First steps in the trenches of the First World War, on the Western Front. And, in the Second, tanks had been heavily employed by both the Axis and the Allies in Europe and North Africa (to a lesser extent in the Pacific): German panzers, Soviet T-34s, Italian Carri Veloci… The sensha -do was born in the old continent as a sport already in the '20s, but only in the '50s did it experience its boom, so much so that it also took hold in North America, Japan and Australia. The championships in Europe had first taken place at the local level, then, in 1951, coinciding with the birth of the first European Community institutions (ECSC and Euratom), the European Sensha-do Federation was also born, a league of various national federations , and, four years later, in 1955, the first European championship was held.
"For a 1956 film, it's downright creepy." Kay said, referring to the film.
"Are you surprised?" Hilda asked her, turning to look at her.
"Yes… I didn't think such an old horror could be so successful."
"Fanta-horror. That's the exact term. And trust me, just because a horror is old doesn't mean it's any less scary than the current ones."
The former Blue Division captain nodded.
"True…" She admitted.
The landlady turned to El:
"You like it?"
"Huh? Yes, certainly! It's one of my favorites, I've seen it on stream." The interested party answered, distracting herself from thoughts of her.
Hilda put on a pleased expression.
"It is one of my favorite films, which I watch more often and willingly, together with Die sieben Samurai (The Seven Samurai), Zwei glorreiche Halunken (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), Kampf der velten (The War of the Worlds, the of 1953) and a couple of others."
"You really like it!" Kay commented, giggling.
"Exactly, blondie. It's one of those movies that I never get tired of watching."
"Is it true that they made remakes of it?" El asked.
Hilda nodded.
"Ja… One from 1978 and one from 2007."
"Have you seen them?"
"I didn't like the '78 one very much (those screams that the ultras emit were annoying), the 2007 one did."
"I understand… You know, at Blue Division we watched Spanish or Latin American films: Los olvidados, for example."
"You mean Die Vergessenen? I saw it some time ago. A Mexican film from 1950, by Luis Buñuel, winner of the Canne festival of '51."
Again Kay was amazed by Hilda's background and knowledge. She knew things she didn't. She evidently had received a high-level education and she would have been surprised otherwise, being the daughter of a deputy and granddaughter of the current German chancellor.
"Did you like it?" he asked.
"Well, yes… Also because I have a thing for the 50s/60s: movies, TV series, documentaries, variety programs, music, and, last but not least, history. That period saw important social and cultural as well as scientific changes. Just think of the first moon landing, or the protests of 1968…"
"I don't need the history lesson!" Saunders' ex-captain interrupted irritably.
Hilda glared at her.
Kay, realizing that she had been rude, said:
"Sorry… But I would like to concentrate on the film."
The German continued to look at her with hostility for a few seconds, then she said:
"Right… Better not to get distracted while watching."
She then she looked back at the screen.
Surely the tankhatlon and clandestine clashes will have seen the light in Europe before Japan.
She told himself.