The Great Raid is another film that marks the return of the "old-fashioned" war movie. This return, however, may not be as straightforward a proposition as one might think. Or is it? Saving Private Ryan (1998) began the trend — a kind of "greatest generation" memorializing that sidesteps Vietnam and looks backward to the Good War — and everyone agrees it was an auspicious (re-)start.
Although Ryan seemed brand-new, an up-close, digitized nose-rub into everything terrifying and transformative and pitiable about combat, the more I thought about it the more it felt exactly like the great G.I. pictures of the 1940s and early '50s, in that it brings us not only close to the action but next to the soldiers, whether via the clunky roll call of American ethnic/geographic types, or the more psychological approach - both equally open to parody.
Of course, any number of war films play with these categories, mixing and matching, and the end result can creak a bit, as "Brooklyn" or "Schwartz" — or "Texas" or "Martini" — or the buttoned-down clueless Second Looey or the shell-shocked shrieker/freezer or the Old Campaigner or the over-eager quasi-psycho trot through their various paces.
As I watch post-Ryan war films, I notice how easy it is to fall into those stereotypes. After all, even the earlier "anti-war" war films — Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987) — indulged in such character typing. It's difficult to resist. Occasionally, though, what's happening — the plot — is more important than to whom — the characters — and so the broad strokes subside to make room for what is essentially a military procedural.
John Dahl's The Great Raid (2005) falls into this category, with satisfying results. I was intrigued to see that his credits include Red Rock West (1992), The Last Seduction (1994), Rounders (1998) and Joy Ride (2001), and while each has its own memorable characters, they remain genre pictures of a particularly garish — and often nasty — sort, I'll admit featuring performances that stick with you — by Nicholas Cage, Linda Fiorentino, Edward Norton, Steve Zahn - but what I really remember about those movies is his attention to details, small touches, inside information, the otherwise decorative elements of a set or a shot or the film's world, that allow even the most delirious moments — such as Joy Ride's finale — make sense.
Article comments
1 - Deano
My understanding is that the story is based on Hampton Side's excellent and involving book Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of WWII's Greatest Rescue Mission.
It's an solid piece of work and the film reflects the primary elements of that story quite well.
2 - Bliffle
"That is the great trick the war movie " or the crime film, or the Western " plays: It distracts one from moral dilemmas long enough to follow moral imperatives."
True. The conflict between what we ought do, to be moral, vs. what we must do, to survive.
We see this played over and over in the movies. Does it need to be told again? Are we just repeating Sophocles and Shakespeare again and again?
3 - Paul J. Marasa
Bliffle,
I think it's inevitable that we replay these scenes. Between the need to be moral and the desire to be "right"--see Oedpius--and between the urge to do good and the wish to feel good--see Hamlet--we stand, I think, either stuck and headlight-frozen or reckless and impulsive.
I guess part of my original comment in my review was to accept the fact that, although moral decisions can be tricky, they are necessary. The hope is that I don't fool myself as I choose--and don't damage others along the way. Hmm. King Lear, anybody?