Iron ego

war movies

Review by Vives Anunciacion

“Never say die” is the mantra of these war movies dealing with homeland security. Somebody out there is getting rich with these war machines.

Letters From Iwo Jima
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Based on the novel Picture Letters from Commander in Chief
*** (3 stars)

Clint Eastwood seems to have put everything corny in the earlier film Flags of our Fathers and devoted his mind to artistically express Letters from Iwo Jima. Centering on the fates of the soldiers defending the last island at the borders of Japan in the final days of WW2, Iwo Jima recounts the last days of the soldiers on the ill-fated island as their leader, General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) desperately makes strategies despite the odds.

It is very interesting how Eastwood differentiates the companion movies. Flags dealt with the definition of heroism, while Iwo Jima deals with the notion of the enemy. The former is bombast with big sounds and melodrama; the latter is quieter, more introspective – a more honest presentation of emotions.

While Flags was an average street parade for the Stars and Stripes, Iwo Jima makes humans out of the soldiers of the Red Sun. But such is the weakness of the two movies, which presents our “liberators” less heroic while Iwo Jima presents our “invaders” as more human. For this movie, saints exist even in hell.

300
Written and Directed by Zack Snyder
Loosely based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller
* (1 star)

This is a videogame and not a movie. Loud, proud, shallow and violently profane, this adaptation of Frank Millers’s graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae makes certain its macho inclinations by a) making most of its actors, particularly Gerard Butler as Sparta king Leonidas, growl their lines; b) showing beautiful women’s breasts once in a while, and c) referring to the (impliedly weak) philosophers of Athens as “boy-lovers”. Lest it becomes any more historically inaccurate than it already is, pederasty was commonplace in Europe and Asia before the spread of Christianity, so that remark is hypocritical. But that is the subject of a different article.

The movie didn’t promise to be profound, so my friend said after the screening. Yes, let’s celebrate mediocrity once more. Cardboard underwear models contrasted with a very ugly Persian army led by the transvestite Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). When the two leaders confront, the taller, more dominant multi-pierced Xerxes places his hands on the shoulders of bearded cod-piece wearing Leonidas and exclaims, “There are other things to fear!” to the laughter of myself and friends. Nowhere was the movie more homoerotically codified than in that scene.

Confused whether it is plot-based (which it really is) or character-based (starts with Leonidas, but actually tells more about being a Spartan soldier than delving with Leonidas’ character). Over the top everything (including the narration) except for one very crucial ingredient – a cohesive story. It’s just a storyline about the defense of 300 Spartans against 250,000 invading Persians. Looking good does not make a good movie. In fact looking good also doesn’t necessarily make a good person. Maybe we as a race have forgotten bravery, honor and glory, that’s why we invent it artificially in our fantasies all the time. In this case, spray-painted 8-pack abs.

Pathfinder
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Based on an earlier movie of the same title and theme
* ½ (1 and a half stars)

Marginally better than 300 if only because it is a) less violent and b) less over-the-top, Pathfinder has everything similar in 300 – the missing cohesive story, cardboard characters, no actual climax but a series of action scenes.

About the legend of a stranded Viking boy adopted by native Americans somewhere in north America who grows up (Karl Urban) to be their protector when the invading Vikings return. Like 300 this one is beautifully photographed and very literal in presenting its thin storyline. Fortunately, Pathfinder fares better than 300 because of a central character.

If there’s one reminder that summer blockbusters are nigh, there’s a lot of skin and beaches shown in these movies.