The Americans are great story-tellers. No, correction - they are great film-makers. And I don't mean that in a sarcastic sort of way.
I've just caught Pearl Harbor on DVD. I'm not into American history, but I enjoyed the show thoroughly, especially the battle and combat scenes. And I love the music score (the current soundtrack on the background of my blog). Pearl Harbor was foremost a movie about war. But like many movies churned out of Tinseltown based on true-life events, Pearl Harbor also tells a love story about two pilots who fell for a nurse. It's a moving love story that leaves me in tears. The Americans have a propensity to mix factual events with fiction, more often than not, love stories, and not everybody is comfortable with that. I can see where they're coming from. The love stories are necessary as subplots, or the movie would have been just another documentary, hardly box-office material that would appeal to the masses.
But let's come back to the American film-makers. These are the guys responsible for the creation of many American heroes, many of them brought back to life from comic strips - the superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Then there are the protagonists from movies such as Die Hard, Independence Day, and yes the hero pilots in Pearl Harbor. These movies are box-office hits, many of them featuring violent and explosive scenes. And when we look at the atrocities committed by the terrorists today, it makes you wonder where these terrorists got their ideas from, doesn't it?
Indeed, when America was attacked during 911, people were known to have quipped: Where have all the heroes gone?
Category: Movies
5 comments:
If you want to find out more about the Pacific War, but prefer a historical novel, may I suggest War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk. Warning - close to 1000 pages. To fully enjoy it, you have to read the prequel first; Winds of War (> 1000 pages), One of these days, I am going to seat down and reread these 2 wonderful books.
For the middle east background he has written another 2 books Hope and Glory. But the earlier 2 are better.
Try watching Tora! Tora! Tora! You'll find it very rewarding.
Thanks Chun See for the recommendation. I'll keep a look out for the books, but at >1000 pages, I dunno how long it'll take for me to finish reading them. Er.. do they have a film version? Heh.
Sivasothi, thanks for dropping by. Ya, I've read about Tora, and I've heard it's a cut above Pearl Harbour. I'll go rent it. Tks!
Wah, first a political commentator then a film critic. You are really versatile, Chris.
"Pearl Harbor also tells a love story about two pilots who fell for a nurse. It's a moving love story that leaves me in tears."
- I can understand why you feel that way.
Not film but tv mini series which was shown over Msian channel years ago. Strs Robert Mitchum.
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