Reviewing Movies

The War
Ken Burns

The more I learn about war the more confirmed I become in my conviction
as to its utter futility. The War in question is WW# II and the title of
episode 5 says it all FUBAR--Fucked up beyond all recognition. The
disregard for men's lives shown by their leaders is beyond
comprehension. Tens of thousands of men's lives were squandered
meaninglessly during this campaign by Gererals who had no knowledge of
the terrain they were sending men into, no idea of the forces arrayed
against them, no concept of its strategic importance, and no idea what
resources would be necessary to take those objectives. Men were sent to
capture targets that did nothing to advance the cause often against
impregnable defenses when going around the target would have served just
as well. Generals failed to cancel campaigns even after they knew their
orders were of no importance. Men were deployed against fields of battle
about which their leaders had little or no knowledge and no
understanding of the forces they would be pitted against. More
particularly officers failed to listen to the advice of lower ranking
men in the field whose knowledge of the situation was far greater than
their own. Famously a lieutenant told his major that gathering men in
large groups for a turkey dinner was a bad idea but the major felt
compelled to follow higher orders resulting in the deaths of hundreds of
men when the Germans zeroed in with artillery on those groups. Troops
who had already seen too much battle were sent to Ardenne Forest for
relief only to become embroiled in what was to become the Battle of the
Bulge--little wonder they broke.

The series tells the story of both the European and Asian Theatres of
War from the perspective of Soldiers and Residents from 4 diverse
American Communities. Unlike Band of Brothers it does not follow any
particular regiment or section of the military. To a greater degree it
makes the experience of war personal by concentrating on the effects
upon individuals in the field and their families back home. Highlighted
is the plight of black soldiers trained as specialists but deployed in
the field as little better than slave labourers. Or ethnic Japanese
trained as soldiers and sent to fight the Germans while their families
pined away behind barbed wire in concentration camps as enemy aliens
stripped of their homes and their livelihoods. Well might one wonder
what allegiance they owed their country.

Interesting that in Band of Brothers the Death of the
Commander-in-Chief, (Roosevelt), gets only passing mention in one of
Nixon's monologues and the name of his successor is never mentioned.
Here we see scenes of his funeral and burial plus the reactions of the
troops in both theatres of war.

After showing us 10 hours of bodies mangled, bloodied, bloated, and
crawling with maggots; gunfire and explosions; plus graphic images of
the horrors of the concentration camps; I find it almost laughable that
it was felt necessary to excuse the fact that men who were describing
the experience might swear. What this says about American morays is more
telling than the fact that it engages in war.