Will Hollywood Ever Really Pay Attention

Well, just as some politicians and religious fanatics believe that spreading their agenda will "enlighten" the general public, these financiers of the movies you mention believe they are perpetrating some truth. They think there is a valid message portrayed in the movies that needs to get out to the public. They must... I can't imagine they invest in this type of movie because they just think it's great art!

And bless the freedom of speech - these people are free to make any kind of movie they wish. We often forget as soldiers that part of our duty is to fight so that people back home have the freedom to oppose us in addition to the freedom to praise. If there were no skeptics who voiced their opinions on anything, where would America be today?? Do we want to slap them sometimes? Yes. However, we must remember that America needs to hear *all* the voices within her borders - or else she becomes something very un-American. We do not have to support these films; and as the numbers show, the majority of Americans do not agree with the negative portrayal of American soldiers. For this I remain VERY thankful. It means the mistakes of our nation's past have been corrected.

While it is unfortunate, American soldiers *have* done some wrong in the past. It is not factually incorrect to cite these attitudes Tom Hanks speaks of. I think that no generation of soldier can always be seen as thru and thru hero. War is ugly, and ugly things happen - on both sides. So personally, I can't fault movie makers for trying to keep things true to life as they understood it to be. To ask a director of scriptwriter to censor their script to portray all Americans as nothing short of morally spotless and entirely honorable is irresponsible. It is false, and leads to an unrealistic character. I think it's good that we have a balance in theaters - movies that highlight the lighter side of war, the horrible things it does to good people, and also the darker side when prison guards terrorize POWs. We can't just sit back in denial and say these types of things don't happen, and shouldn't be talked about. They should be dragged out into the daylight and dissected so that we can prevent them from happening again. Sometimes, visibility of the bad is good.

Let me end by stating that I am very excited about the GI film festival in DC, and will certainly be there in May! I am a fan of the idea behind the festival - that we should celebrate movies which highlight GIs in a positive light. I think this is very important! I just see a need for the other side too. Freedom of speech is good... good for America, and good for our troops.

You are right about the need to show the dark side along with the honorable as long as both are shown. I can think of at least two instance in Private Ryan where events were shown that were deeply regrettable and could easily have been classified as criminal behavior. But the whole story was being told, not just those actions. That's the real point, the whole story must be told not just the parts that fit someone's agenda.

During Commander Detweiler's year in 1994-95, The American Legion went head to head with the Smithsonian Institute over their projected portrayal of the Enola Gay and the atomic explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The issue was not the portion of the story that the Smithsonian was presenting but the portion that they chose to leave out. They were focusing almost entirely on the horrible effects of the use of atomic weapons on the Japanese citizens of those two cities and almost entirely neglecting any mention of the thousands of lives, American and Japanese that were saved by the use of those weapons. The individual directing that project was replaced as a result of the controversy and the Smithsonian agreed that a more complete history of those events would be told.

The American people have voted with their finances by not spending their money on those films that choose to tell a one-sided story. As in the Smithsonian controversy, the side being told fits the teller's personal agenda. Fortunately the American people have the ability to see through that attempt at perverting the truth. They know that there will be some bad but they also hold to the firm belief that the good outweighs the bad. For the majority of Americans the glass is still half-full. As long as that fact remains, movie makers and movie stars pushing personal agendas will see their work go the way of those one-sided films listed.

My suspicion is that though The Pacific will attempt to show the bad along with the good, it's not exactly going to be a hatchet job when you look at the Big Picture.

Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan were both very interesting in what they did to the war movie genre. The Old School war movies of the 40's, 50's and beyond often portrayed war in glorious tones with little of the real consequences shown. This wasn't necessarily bad, and highlighting the noble behavior of warriors is important. Post-Vietnam was when Hollywood really brought out the anvils and started dropping them left and right (well, mostly Left ;) ) to hit you over the head with the evil-ness of war and the people who fought wars...and the military-industrial comples-blah, blah, blah...

I think the Spielberg/Hanks projects of the early part of the last decade really represented a sea change. I don't think either is "Pro-War" and both projects are in a way anti-war in that they show the reality of war, which is that it is ugly and brutish and violent and horrible things happen. The sea change is that while these horrible things are happening, there are some good people, and most of them are good people, who are trying to do their best in the midst of the horror. Soldiers aren't bad, well most of them aren't, they're just put in the worst possible positions and they do their best to do what they can to get through. Neither project flinched from showing some horrific acts on both sides; or the random, terrible events that just happen. I think they were both very even handed and I respect both projects. I expect nothing different from The Pacific.

Robert E. Lee famously said: "It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it."

We shouldn't look at war with rose colored glasses, so I don't fault people who don't. I fault those who look at it and only see the bad, but having been there and done that...war is what it is and I don't think that showing that will be done in a way to impugn the good name of our service members in general.

"...that insults and ridicules the American military and/or criticizes and portrays the United States as stupid and arrogant...." This is a quote
by Seventh Son at the beginning of this Blog when describing how some movies present us.

Unfortunately this portrayal of Americans is held by the man now serving as our President. When he was campaigning he gave a speech in Germany where he, in a messianic way, and I am sure most of us remember this, apologized for Americans' arrogance. It ticked me off and everyone I know was disgusted by this guy who never served in the military and has ridiculed this country on numerous occasions and hangs around with people who would destroy this country in a heart beat.

To call us arrogant because we have fought and protected not only our Freedoms and liberty but that of millions of others around the world
is to focus only on the bad things that may have occurred or had only occurred in rarely and should not be condoned. But to portray all of us in this manner is totally wrong, especially by the alleged leader of our great country.

The war in the Pacific was the politically incorrect war. The Americans did not fight racist, white people there. The enemy was non-white. Thus the White Americans were the bad guys not liberating Jews from Nazis but oppressing Asians. That fits in perfectly with the Hollywood world view.
"Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" was a feel-good, western dressed up in World War 2 uniforms. The "Pacific" will be the same but with the Americans occasionally wearing the black hats.
You will never find true history in Hollywood.

I believe I have watched every movie and documentary on World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. I did so because my father was in the infantry and fought against the Japanese, my brother is a two tour combat veteran of Nam and I did my time as well. War has a way of changing the people involved, civilians as well as combatants. We quickly learn when you're being shot at that war is not about the Constitution, God, or the Nation nor is it about defending the rights and freedom of people. At that very moment to the soldier it's about survival, death, dismemberment, horror, and the very disbelief of what a civilized people can do to one another. We can say the enemy did this and that. However, can we honestly say we did not? No side is ever truly innocent or guilty nor can they be held responsible for all of the actions of those who dealt in the insane pleasure of harming and killing of those that have surrendered. War has and will forever change how we see one another and more importantly how we reconcile with one another. The nuclear bombing of Japan ended the war and is credited with the saving of hundreds of thousands of lives but at the expense of millions of others. War is never a complete solution to the end of tranny, or attacks to ones homeland. It is however in our time, the reason why others seek to hold and control the very nuclear power that the United States and her allies seek to limit and terminate. Hollywood will never completely capture the true essence of war unless it shows it from all sides, to include civilians, politicians, family, the global community and from the perspective of those on the front line, who experience the life and death of war. When there is an open callaboration, between the scholars of war, those who experienced it and those who sought to avoid it, then and only then can the whole story be told, not as entertainment but as a recording of the human events that exposes the goodness of man, his weaknesses and the need of some to dominate others.

Hey Roland,
"at the expense of millions of others.".....what does that mean?
Hollywood in general is full of leftists and they do not like the country nor care for the brave men & women who give their lives to defend the freedoms we enjoy here. How they can support thugs like Chavez and Castro while making millions here is disgusting. Do they really thing that those "leaders" would allow them to live as they do and speak as they see fit. Mr. Speilberg would be one of the first on the firing line. While some of them are talented actors most of them feel they have some special gift that allows them to "see" America as we common folk do not. I will not and do not support them with my dollars. I'd rather read a good book.

Please, please, my fellow human beings - wake up and smell your brains frying on the pavements wherever war is waged and people lay dead because of man's inhumanity toward man. There is nothing noble nor honorable about war and all that comes with it. If you think there is, ask anyone whose homeland has been invaded or involved in such travesty as war. No member of the armed services ever declared war. The blame rests with politicians and the marriage between religion and politics. Further proof of war's insanity is the conscious desire to smother the truth of American reality with lies, more lies and cover-ups of historical fact. Don't blame Hollywood, don't blame the troops! We, ourselves must take responsibility for not wanting to know the truth. War, like lynching comes from the sick minds of cowards hiding under, or behind fortresses of history remade to suit populist beliefs.

The problem with war, is with the polititions. Let the Generals do it.
Taking prisioners, don't do it, if they do not have any information to give.
Judges, 30 days in jail for a pedophile with a 30 year history, six months in cunceling.
politicians ; Cruel and unusual torture, no water boarding. Exchange one of our military men or women for a politician's
son, daughter, grandchild, not a wife or husband, you might be sending a politician's bed pardner to.......
Our money, made Holywood stars rich? John Wayne, Bob Hope, good guys and girls in Holywood are mostly gone.
How about sending the stars in exchange for POW's?