Julia Newman's 'Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War'

Julia Newman's Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War (2002) looks at its subject from the perspective of women from the USA who volunteered to go to Spain in the late 1930s, ranging from nurses and drivers to the writers Dorothy Parker and Martha Gellhorn, and including the latter's urgent correspondence with Eleanor Roosevelt.  A sampling of the eighty or so American women directly involved in the conflict are given voice and image. Filled out with fantastic archival footage, this is an excellent contribution from an international anti-fascist women's perspective of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The advances in motion picture film after the Great War of 1914-1918 give a more contemporary feel to this war, and the examples of footage shown here do great service. Well done. This documentary serves as a general introduction to the whole conflict and also as a special focus on the American women engaged in it. The DVD includes extra goodies.

Today's Rune:  Defense.