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September 1998, Week 4

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From:
Ed Owens <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Mon, 21 Sep 1998 15:39:47 +0000
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Rick Moody wrote:
 
> While the first forty-five minutes is harrowing stuff,
> the other two hours is basically two episodes of "Combat!" edited together.
>  Not bad, but certainly not original.
 
Although I agree with you that SPR is perhaps overpraised at the expense of
other, equally if not more important films, my biggest divergence with the
critical masses has been regarding which part of the film had more impact.  As
harrowing as the first portion was, the defense of the bridge had far more
impact on me.  I believe, though I haven't analyzed it a great deal, that a
large part of my response was the fact that I thought myself numb from the rest
of the film.  Just a comment.
 
>         Too, there is a more elemental problem.  While many of us older film
> students are aware of the fact that men involved in war were perhaps
> "numbed" by the day-to-day struggle to survive due to insufficient sleep
> and constant tension and the constant loss of comrades, the movie itself
> does not delineate this state of affairs for the unenlightened.  I
> sincerely doubt whether the rising generation would understand these
> people.
 
I for one think it does, though very subtly.  Throughout the film, the soldiers
close themselves off in ways that illustrate the "numbness" you mention: the
debate over the kid in the village; the dogtag poker; even the refusal of Hanks
to relay an anecdote to Damon, saying, "That one's for me."  All of these
things denote a self-imposed isolation, a cutting-off from those around you.
Hanks even seems to feel guilty when he allows himself the luxury of a sentient
emotional moment (in the church with Sizemore).  WHether or not the film does
so explicitly is another matter, but I do think the film deftly handles the
issues you mention.
 
>
> Take, for example, the aftermath
> of the Omaha Beach incident....Surely someone would have started crying,
> shaking, cracking up,
> etc.
 
It may have just been awhile since I saw it, but I seem to remember several
members "cracking up" so to speak.  Further, the cut to the mother's receiving
of the letters (another weakness, in my opinion, that I have yet to see
mentioned) covers a passage of some time.
 
Ed
 
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