WW2 is popular on this board.

[Jas]

We filmed some shots at the Battle of the Bulge re-enactment at Fort Indian Town Gap 2 years ago. I wish I was shooting the GI side of an Army movie, there were so many guys in costume. We were shooting some German Barracks scenes with Luftwaffe re-enactors.
It's interesting from the German perspective of re-enacting. Most of the guys, 99.9% are in it for the depiction of history and yet there is always this aura of negativity. Maybe because of the swastikas and Hitler etc. The Luftwaffe guys were really into the aircraft and flight training and can't stand any political rhetoric of the time. I still remember walking into the Barrack with the Head of the Luftwaffe organization and having armed soldiers with machine guns salute and let us in. It was a great experience...really friggin cold, but lots of fun.

It's one thing to shoot on a re-enactment battlefield where everyone is dressed in period clothing. Imagine when your filming in a house outside of Pittsburgh and your actor goes out for some air dressed in his Nazi Uniform. It can lead to a confrontation. Nothing happened, but I cringed every time we were all sitting on the front porch.

There are some parts of Missing Jane where we deal with a German Luftwaffe pilot. We portray him as very human and emotionally vulnerable. I think that makes people uncomfortable. Your not supposed to sympathize with the Nazis under any circumstances. It was a real hurdle I had to overcome after watching the film subjectively. Most of the older Luftwaffe pilots didn't really like Hitler and what he was doing, but they fought for their country bravely. The guy that was rebuilding the replica ME-109 we used in the film faced a lot of funding opposition because the plane had a swastika on it. He would tell people "But, we're using an authentic paint scheme" But it didn't matter. There is a real effort to wipe any mention of Hitler, Nazi, or anything related to it. It's a shame. Those whom forget history are doomed to repeat it.