Why War?
It was like yesterday. My mom and my fiancé in the kitchen cleaning up and my fiancé said we were going to see a war movie that evening.
“Why does he do that?” my mom asked. I was only a few months fresh from my last circle through Central America during one of the last bloodiest civil wars the US and USSR took advantage of to keep fighting a 60-year war and not get it “hot”—nuclear.
“I don’t know,” my fiancé said.
Cork in El Sal: www.corkincombat.com
Eavesdropping spurred me to answer silently: Because we’re searching for answers to the war and reasons for my and others’ experience…
Every veteran watches movies that deal with war. For some it’s the reliving of past glories of youth, especially apparent in those who served in WWII and like watching John Wayne movies.
…Or, for the young it’s what they imagine or possibly hope war will be: whether as a reason not to go, or to go. When I read that a bunch of Marines watched Apocalypse Now the night before the run into Iraq, I wasn’t surprised.
…Or, the last reason, the reason I found myself watching all these war movies when I returned from Central America: to interpret the emotions and feelings that I hadn’t been permitted to feel while in combat. You start bawling, and feeling all those emotional and psychological pains while you’re in a firefight, instead of responding effectively and as clear thinking as possible, you’re setting up yourself and your team for a whole mess more of hurt.
–Bottle it up and save it for later time we’d say, not realizing that we were prepping our subconscious for a much longer run with PTSD. Listen to Marines and soldiers who survived the breakout of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War and you’ll get a clear idea of how time doesn’t always heal all wounds.
…Listen to someone who has done the processing of clearing out the auto-effects of PTSD you see the difference. War movies provide this…and sometimes it gives just enough of a peak to relatives and friends who perhaps might want to understand what had happened.
In a film we get to see life as we wish it was: the hero wins. The bad guy dies….Or we get to at least see events similar to what we might have experienced, and just by seeing something, anything similar, outside of our memories, enables us to get a grasp of what roils and slithers through our memories—it’s what makes real sense of getting another point of view.
And that’s why every war has a marker of war movies: they’re good business for Hollywood, even when Hollywood says no. No, not when the films come out, except for Apocalypse Now and Deer Hunter—Coppola and Cimino always did well, back then.
No, I’m talking about movies such as those that come out during a war. The only ones that did well were propoganda films that came out during WWII and WWI. There were two audiences then: those going and coming back, and those wishing they’d gone and those who hoped their loved ones were either John Wayne or protected by John Wayne.
But, as the masses move so do the movies. This was evident with Korea. Pork Chop Hill with Gregory Peck, great movie really started to see what the hell was that American and UN personnel and were going through in Korea, but after WWII, Americans didn’t want to know about Korea of those who came back—they don’t call it The Forgotten War for nothing. As for Pork Chop Hill, it didn’t come out until later.
Then there was the anger of Vietnam, and doing everything not to mention it in Hollywood: except for the ra-ra film, Green Berets, most films dealt with the wars before…One of my favorite films of that era wasn’t a Vietnam movie, but a Kelly Heroes with Clint Eastwood. Remember what I said about films being an escape? Something to remember when coming up with a film idea: want to do a war movie? Don’t do it on the one you’re fighting now unless you want to do a documentary—Stop-Loss came out a few years too early…when we get our medicine we don’t want to know about it.
…And we especially don’t want it at the cost of our escape: when I checked on it today, the gross for Stop-Loss was only $10.9 Million (Budget was $25 Million). Look at Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H which was the use of a past war to comment on a present war and you’ll get my drift (Koreans wearing Vietnamese conical hats, say what??)…medicine for those in the know, comedy and fun for those looking to escape = Box Office smash and critical acclaim!
…We’ll talk about this next time when I share with you “true-life” as narrated by a journalist, and “true-life” as depicted by screenwriter.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hi, Cork –
Very interesting installment. Do you think the same for other events, that it’s better to do scripts on real life events after the event or during, per this war and war movie theory?
Also, you don’t look very happy in that by the way. Anything interesting?
Sincerely,
RT
August 29th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Thanks for the wonderful question, Rocco!
Yes, from what I’ve observed when you’re developing a film for release that deals with very heavy subject that did occur, like Columbine or other such painful part of national history, definitely release the film later. Yes, Columbine was fast, but also I’m really talking about events like the Iran Hostages or at present the films about the Bush Administration. As an example, I was just reviewing the release for Oliver Stone’s “W”: brilliant!
He could have easily released a Bush film during the administration that would have had quite an effect on the second term. Instead, he’s releasing this Oct. 17th in the US. Something worth seeing in terms of effect on the critics, viewers and international relations. I can already tell it’s going to sell well in France. I’ll definitely be writing about political films: either about near finished terms or old and dead politicos…and how much biopics are dependant on the leader’s term effects, distance of time and screenwriters/directors perspective.
And no, Rocco, not very happy having my picture taken during that time…Navy SEALs and all those those under their tutelage are always very conscious of keeping photos to minimum–no photos and no tattoos after the murder of one of their own on a hijacked TWA 847.
Slainte!