Thursday, August 24, 2006
REAL WAR
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, with the help of Teresa Wright and Dame May Whitty, play a 'typical' upper middle class family who are experiencing the first months of WWII.
They live on the front lines near a large airfield. They suffer bombardment, rationing, injury and death. Pidgeon takes part in the evacuation of Dunkirk.
The movie cleverly adds stress to the mess slowly; inexorably. The reality of the war sort of creeps up on us while we are busy doing other things.
It is a propaganda piece but does illustrate one thing. Our 'war on terror' pales in comparison to the experiences of real war. We are not even close. Not a taint. It is all wind machine.
That is not to say that people are not suffering and dying. They just (surely) not the fat assed middle classes within CONUS.
All in all, this is a pretty good film. Directed by William Wyler, it is interesting to watch the clever use of stage effects to cover almost all studio shooting.
Events occur nearby. The facades of trains seem to move (with the help of a dolly shot) and so on.
The acting is quite good and while this is melodrama, the cast does not stoop to eating the scenery.
At the time, it was the feel-good hit with tons of Academy nominations and awards.
It does not really hold up well after all that time and our awareness that even the real war was far worse than shown here.
People were terrified, acted badly, ran for cover, black-marketed, and the rest. There was real blood and terrible pain.
Nevertheless I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 for trying and for the opportunity to watch Greer Garson steal scenes from Dame May Whitty.
