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Re: Upon this we agree...

216.158.7.57

Posted by Victor Khomenko on April 18, 2000 at 13:55:06

In Reply to: Upon this we agree... posted by Joe S on April 18, 2000 at 13:46:46:

***What did you think of Saving Private Ryan?

On the whole, not much. Way too many weaknesses.

***The early scenes in this film struck me as capturing the barbaric hopelessness of combat where being in the wrong place at the wrong time is all that matters (the men in the LST that drops its door on the beach right in front of a machine gun nest for example).

I agree here. However, in art, in most of its forms, I seek subtle ways more than gross, primitive, overt ones. One can get a person's attention by striking him on the head with a hammer. One can also use more subtle forms. My problem with SPR is that is is much more the hammer thing. So while being effective at getting attention, it also lacks in the artistic department.

***I tend to agree with your asssesment of US & Hollywood idealism regarding war. I suspect it is born of geographic isolation in large part. The fact is that the US has never suffered invasion and the consequences of war first hand - the only Americans who have are the ones sent to combat. And even among them the number of casualties has been remarkably smallcompared to many other nations. As a result the bulk of the population has no context for what it is actually like - and in fact often respond negatively to films which depict it accurately as it doesnt fit with their sanitized preconcieved notions. On one hand the fact our society hasnt faced the cataclysm of war on its home ground is a wonderful thing, on the other it does breed a certain naivety regarding what war is actually like.

***The one war that should serve to offer that context (the US civil war, which took more American lives than any other war the US has ever engaged in) is over a century behind us - and given the short historical attention span of the average American that basically means it never happened...

That is precisely true, and expresses my feelings 1000%.

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