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"Pearl Harbor" Reconsidered

65.144.204.101

Posted by mikenyc on August 11, 2002 at 11:45:24

I picked up the DVD set to this film with some hesitation, but with great curiosity, after a few partial viewings on cable Tv. After viewing the DVD director's cut, I've come to the conclusion that this film has been pilloried, unfairly.

What struck me most, about this film, was the unique uuse of cinematography to carry the whole load, for setting the whole tone for the film. It's very stylized, and wanting to be something special, rather than evocative of other films in the genre. It strives to set itself apart, from being a history and having anything to do with reality. The "look" seems to be created, to set the film apart, from others of it's genre, with the desire to be judged on it's own terms. The heavy presence of black, or dark, shading, makes me, more apt to suspend the viewer's sense of what reality should be and allow the film to take off on it's own journey of reality.

The problem with this genre, is that in films like this...fiction story set in the context of an historical event...any story is rendered silly by the Event itself. That the facts or history, dominates, and swallows the fictionalized human/Love story, whole, and for the viewer, they are not allowed to "swallow" the fiction part as being "realistic"...as if Love has rules of reality, all of a sudden! So what we are left with, is being hard and unfairly judgemental of the fiction part of the story, because the History of it, dictates that we do. The viewer has to hold every part of the story as Fact...and not allowed to enjoy the film experience, which, in and of itself, is not supposed to be real, in any sense.

Compared to other films of it's type..."From Here To Eternity",
"Tora, Tora, Tora", "Midway", ""In Harms Way", "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", "The Purple Heart"...the Love story part of "Pearl Harbor", stands up as less complicated to understand, and more plausible, than these socalled "classic" films. In particular, I love how the film expresses, and is more sensitive, in it's portrayal of the Female Perspective during war time, and their sexual relationships with men in war, as it were, without being preachy. If you recall the weak, tossed off, human stories of say "Midway", and especially, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", the PH love triangle is very convincing as acted, with it, surrendering less to the contemporary dictates of politics. The Race Card in "Midway" is more symtomatic to Political Correctness of the 70's, than the actual truth of the reasons for doing it, was to what was actually going on in the US of the 30's and 40's. And we say the PC Police are heavy handed in our Society ?

Anyway...someday this film will get the due it deserves, and the critic's favorite punching bag, Michael Bay, perhaps, will get some respect. The Bloodsport of Film criticism...well that's another whole subject, isn't it? It appears these days, we need someone to tell us whether we will like something or not...we are not that capable of judging on our own anymore ?

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Sonic Craft

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