Film shows children what war was like

It is hard for children today to understand the privations, difficulties and heartbreak that people had to suffer during WWII.

So, in an innovative approach to teaching its pupils about wartime, San Andrea, a private school under the Parents' Foundation for Education, has produced a short film dealing with the harsh realities of war as seen through the eyes of a child who recalls hardships, poverty, friendships and death.

A total of 80 children between the ages of 10 and 11 took part in the Latina Pictures film, called Malta George Cross, directed by former film commissioner and 'Troy' producer Winston Azzopardi.

The filming experience, which spanned three days, took the children to various historic locations linked to WWII, including the underground shelter dug by hand in the rock face at Couvre Porte, Vittoriosa. There, the children saw how whole families lived in a network of underground tunnels and small cubicles during air-raids.

The experience also exposed them to the process of making a film, from make-up and hair to special effects.

Although the filming took just three days to complete, weeks of planning and months of follow-ups, publicity, editing, discussions and screenings were taken up before the final product was ready to be shown.

Speaking during the launch of the film yesterday, San Andrea primary school head Dorothy Lapira said that children and most parents do not have first-hand experience of the war, so it was not easy for 11-year-olds to understand the fear, disease, hunger and suffering that the war brought in its wake.

Source:  The Times