The Fifth Column

The Broccoli Project performed The Fifth Column the only full length play written by Ernest Hemingway. The main character Philip Rawlings is a journalist during the Spanish Civil War. After viewing the play I spoke with some of the actors who asked if I saw the connection between Rawlings and Hemingway himself. It is thought that Rawlings character is Hemingway, or at least how Hemingway wanted to see himself. Hemingway was by nature known as a Loyalist supporter and the play is written from the standpoint. Rawlings goes in and out of love with Dorothy Bridges who is also a writer and plays a unique role. Anita plays the counter of Dorothy. She is a Spanish prostitute like character who has a history with Rawlings. The play is overall a vision of the war from a very biased perspective, and was difficult to follow at some parts. The actors made the script come to life with their strong Spanish accents and clothing choices. The best part about this play was getting to see Hemingway being acted out. Rawlings character grows and changes a great deal during the course of the play and his actions make more sense as time goes on. The audience is able to understand his sporadic nature, but at the same time see the nature of ¿comrades¿ and ¿Generals.¿ Rawlings is deeply troubled by his actions and doubts everything which connects to how this play was political propaganda in the time period. Drawing the connection to this class, however, is not as clear. Without a doubt I will always look back ¿Hammer your thoughts into unity,¿ and perhaps that is what this play is about. Hemmingway¿s look at himself is in many ways linked to unifying his own thoughts and understanding his motivations. One of the hardest things to analyze is ourselves and why we think and act as we do. Hammering ones thoughts into unity can only be done when you step back and evaluate yourself from an outside perspective, much as Hemmingway did with this play.