For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway :- 

Ernest Hemingway was an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize (1953) and the Nobel Prize in Literature (1954) for his novel The Old Man and the Sea, which was made into a 1958 film The Old Man and the Sea (1958).

He was born into the hands of his physician father. He was the second of six children of Dr. Clarence Hemingway and Grace Hemingway (the daughter of English immigrants). His father's interests in history and literature, as well as his outdoorsy hobbies (fishing and hunting), became a lifestyle for Ernest. His mother was a domineering type who wanted a daughter, not a son, and dressed Ernest as a girl and called him Ernestine. She also had a habit of abusing his quiet father, who suffered from diabetes, and Dr. Hemingway eventually committed suicide. Ernest later described the community in his hometown as one having "wide lawns and narrow minds".

In 1916 Hemingway graduated from high school and began his writing career as a reporter for The Kansas City Star. There he adopted his minimalist style by following the Star's style guide: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative." Six months later he joined the Ambulance Corps in WWI and worked as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, picking up human remains. In July 1918 he was seriously wounded by a mortar shell, which left shrapnel in both of his legs causing him much pain and requiring several surgeries. He was awarded the Silver Medal. Back in America, he continued his writing career working for Toronto Star . At that time he met Hadley Richardson and the two married in 1921. In 1921, he became a Toronto Star reporter in Paris. There he published his first books, called "Three Stories and Ten Poems" (1923), and "In Our Time" (1924). In Paris he met Gertrude Stein, who introduced him to the circle that she called the "Lost Generation". F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thornton Wilder, Sherwood Anderson and Ezra Pound were stimulating Hemingway's talent. At that time he wrote "The Sun Also Rises" (1926), "A Farewell to Arms" (1929), and a dazzling collection of Forty-Nine stories. Hemingway also regarded the Russian writers Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov as important influences, and met Pablo Picasso and other artists through Gertrude Stein. "A Moveable Feast" (1964) is his classic memoir of Paris after WWI.

Hemingway participated in the Spanish Civil War and took part in the D-Day landings during the invasion of France during World War II, in which he not only reported the action but took part in it. In one instance he threw three hand grenades into a bunker, killing several SS officers. He was decorated with the Bronze Star for his action. His military experiences were emulated in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1940) and in several other stories. He settled near Havana, Cuba, where he wrote his best known work, "The Old Man and the Sea" (1953), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature. This was adapted as the film The Old Man and the Sea (1958), for which Spencer Tracy was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor, and Dimitri Tiomkin received an Oscar for Best Musical Score.

War wounds, two plane crashes, four marriages and several affairs took their toll on Hemingway's hereditary predispositions and contributed to his declining health. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and insomnia in his later years. His mental condition was exacerbated by chronic alcoholism, diabetes and liver failure. After an unsuccessful treatment with electro-convulsive therapy, he suffered severe amnesia and his physical condition worsened. The memory loss obstructed his writing and everyday life. He committed suicide in 1961. Posthumous publications revealed a considerable body of his hidden writings, that was edited by his fourth wife, Mary, and also by his son Patrick Hemingway.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is based on Spanish Civil War :-

Set in 1944 Spain, the events of the film take place towards the end of the Second World War, where after the endless struggles of the Resistance and allied forces, the Nazi occupation has finally been withdrawn from France. A Spanish guerilla group gets hyped up by this victory and decides to reclaim Spanish territory by overthrowing General Franco with a bang.

When they set out to destroy the regime’s infrastructure, not everything goes as planned and the Spanish army ends up interrupting their process. With this, almost every member of the group of rebels ends up dying. Vicente Roig, one of the two survivors, ends up getting arrested, whereas, on the other hand, Anselmo Rojas somehow manages to escape, but is left deaf with the impact of the explosions.

Captain Bosch becomes obsessed with Rojas’ escape and to capture him, he hires Darya Sergéevich, who is a young merciless sniper from Bolshevik Russia. Soon Rojas finds himself in a tough spot where he is forced to take the help of his ex-girlfriend, Rosa, who now happens to be the wife of his arrested comrade Vicente. Although this does reignite their old flame for a few brief moments, Rojas is forced to face his new reality where he is nothing but a wanted man, who’ll have to tread a path of utter loneliness.

The Film Based on “For Whom the Bell Tolls”? 

The (Silent) War’ is alluded from one of the best works of Ernest Hemingway”For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Just like the movie, the novel is also set up in the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War where the Loyalists rebel against the barbaric rule of the fascist government. Even the novel is written from a perspective that sympathizes more with the loyalists and highlights their struggles against the Nationalists.
Moreover, even the protagonists of both the movie and novel are pretty much the same. Both the characters Anselmo Rojas (in the movie) and Robert Jordan (in the novel), fight on the side of the loyalists against General Franco’s “fascist” forces and later decides to blow up a bridge with his men.
Apart from that, both the movie and novel share the common theme of mortality, love, warfare, and politics. The themes of morality set in when all the characters, in one way or the other, are forced to either accept their own death or the death of their loved ones. A small part of both stories also deals with love.

In the novel, Robert Jordan, after an unexpected encounter with a Spanish girl, ends up falling in love with her and it gives him a new reason to live in a world where nothing seems right. Similarly in the movie, Anselmo Rojas is able the light at the end of the tunnel when he rekindles with his old love interest. Almost all the characters of both take more of a cynical perspective on human nature and bogged down by the war. But the hope for love still remains.
Both the mediums portray the cruel reality of warfare with grave details and show how it drastically impacts the lives of all the characters. While the physical losses are pretty evident, even the psychological losses completely destroy the lives of innocents who are caught up in its core. And finally, the conflict between the leftists and the fascist Nationalists, which forms the core of the premise of both the mediums, highlights the political themes in both.