The best war films pull no punches. They also make the point that -- irrespective of natural sentiment and political bias -- war is by nature an aberration, lacking any rational basis for justifying its recurrence through the centuries. War is essentially uncivilized, and can be excused only when a disputant being attacked can define a clear and present danger against which no alternative obtains.
Lesser war films tend to extol the virtues of war, glamorize heroism in battle, play on the viewer's emotions, blow things up for the sake of thrills, exaggerate false sentiment, betray a jingoist point of view, and most reprehensible of all cloak themselves in Orwellian speeches that seek to manipulate an unwitting audience into action.
This film is simply one of the best of the best. Except for one or two sequences it relies on believable, non-heroic characters involved in acts of concentrated heroism under the most stressful and suspenseful conditions imaginable. Its tone is that of having been filmed in actual wartime using many actors who themselves were recent combatants. Yet it covers a full range of cinematic possibilities, from a sensitive script to an excellent musical score.
I will not dwell on all the aspects of authentic, almost documentary, elements in this film. I spent the war on the home front, and thus do not know of all the technically correct parts that others here have commented on. My own recollection was that most of the ordinary joes were always referring to Douglas MacArthur as "Dugout Doug," a derogatory swipe at his flight to Australia and reluctance to go on the offensive for some time thereafter.
Like other great war films such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory, this one takes its place right up there.
Lesser war films tend to extol the virtues of war, glamorize heroism in battle, play on the viewer's emotions, blow things up for the sake of thrills, exaggerate false sentiment, betray a jingoist point of view, and most reprehensible of all cloak themselves in Orwellian speeches that seek to manipulate an unwitting audience into action.
This film is simply one of the best of the best. Except for one or two sequences it relies on believable, non-heroic characters involved in acts of concentrated heroism under the most stressful and suspenseful conditions imaginable. Its tone is that of having been filmed in actual wartime using many actors who themselves were recent combatants. Yet it covers a full range of cinematic possibilities, from a sensitive script to an excellent musical score.
I will not dwell on all the aspects of authentic, almost documentary, elements in this film. I spent the war on the home front, and thus do not know of all the technically correct parts that others here have commented on. My own recollection was that most of the ordinary joes were always referring to Douglas MacArthur as "Dugout Doug," a derogatory swipe at his flight to Australia and reluctance to go on the offensive for some time thereafter.
Like other great war films such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory, this one takes its place right up there.