Reviewing Movies

Just binge-watched the entire 10-episode series. It's quite a sensual assault. 

Although it shares the same production team with its sister series, Band of Brothers it is an entirely different animal. First off the soldiers seem more real to us because we meet their families and we spend time with them as individuals and get to know them on a personal level. In this series we do not repeat boot camp or see many scenes of training, the men ship out to war almost immediately. Rather than paratroopers we meet the marines here who make amphibious landings on tropical islands in the Pacific. Scenes of cold and snow are replaced by tropical monsoons. Hard to choose between trench foot and jungle rot. 

All soldiers seem to share disdain for West Point trained Lieutenants. The first casaulty is killed by friendly fire. Wandering off to answer a call of nature at night is a dangerous proposition. Getting hit by your own artilary because some lieutenant couldn't read a map a common theme. Nicknames seem to be a hallmark of camaraderie: Snafu, Sledgehammer, Runner, Peaches. A. A. Haldane, a beloved captain was Ack Ack. Great leaders ask nothing of their men they are not willing to risk themselves too often placing themselves in peril. Too many awards get given posthumously. 

Battle fatigue is suffered by all fighters who spend too much time with short rations, little or no potable water, in harsh environments under continual enemy fire or bombardment. The extended period these soldiers spend recuperating as celebrated liberators of Australia in Melbourne are unique to this series. The Japanese Soldier made this campaign unique. The ferosity of their attacks in seeming utter disdain for self-preservation, their attitude of no surrender kill or be killed, their ingenuity and the privations they willingly endured. An enemy you cannot understand is a fearsome one. 

Finally we get to see the survivors return home. The CO picked up at a whistle stop by his younger brother and dirt-farm poor father in an aging farm truck. Snafu met by no one. Leckie reclaiming the newspaper post he left behind and finally getting to wear his dress blues. The girls they left behind. Most poignant are the scenes between Sledge and his doctor father. Every battle weary vet should have someone so understanding to come home to.