HBO Miniseries: The Pacific

[CanadianCowboysFan]

well if you listen to canadian and those of his ilk yes.

jarhead, did I write anything bad about the soldiers portrayed in the movie?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

As Sledge's dad said, the torn flesh is one thing, the torn soul is the scariest part.

Even Leckie said that the stuff he saw and did you might be able to make amends with your Maker but maybe not yourself.

Humans are not born to kill each other, it is a learned behaviour.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

I thought the series was so-so. I am a big war movie-freak. I've seen many better. I found the series a little hard to follow.

What was very interesting was my wife's reaction to the series. She is Japanese. She was always rooting for the Americans during the movie. And she was sad when an American soldier was killed in the series.

My wife would laugh at many of the comments such as "slap a Jap."

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I thought the series was so-so. I am a big war movie-freak. I've seen many better. I found the series a little hard to follow.

What was very interesting was my wife's reaction to the series. She is Japanese. She was always rooting for the Americans during the movie. And she was sad when an American soldier was killed in the series.

My wife would laugh at many of the comments such as "slap a Jap."

Has she ever seen the Japanese movie Okinawa with the guy who played Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice?

I bought it a few weeks back, terrible acting, like the old Godzilla movies but it was interesting to see the war from the Japanese perspective.

It was funny in that the Japanese never lost a hand to hand fight with the Americans in the movie but lost the battle. The Americans were the evil ones in it, shooting at old Japanese civilians, etc

The different perspective was interesting.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

Has she ever seen the Japanese movie Okinawa with the guy who played Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice?

I bought it a few weeks back, terrible acting, like the old Godzilla movies but it was interesting to see the war from the Japanese perspective.

It was funny in that the Japanese never lost a hand to hand fight with the Americans in the movie but lost the battle. The Americans were the evil ones in it, shooting at old Japanese civilians, etc

The different perspective was interesting.

Never saw it but I will mention it to her. I would like to see war movies from the Japanese perspective. I don't think there are many of them though. And they probably aren't very good. Like they say, "the winners get to write history."

 

[CliffnDallas]

People that think they were trying to make soldiers look bad in some kind of way are killing me. Oh it is some grand conspiracy to make the soldiers look bad. Same for people who comment about war movies being nothing more than glorifying war. Oh they are trying to make it look all fun to recruit young men.

Little clue to people. War is not all goofing around and giggles. You put any large group of men into those situations and you are going to have Different types of soldiers. Some that just can not handle the job. Ones that do their job and do it well. Those that far and away rise up above the challenges like Basilone and then you will always have some guys that are already monsters or they turn into monsters after seeing such horrors.

Only showing the good or great guys is never telling the whole story. Only showing the good parts of war is never the whole story. I love war movies, even ones that are only showing the good things and sometimes are comedies at times. But there is nothing wrong with showing the bad side of war as well to tell the whole story. You don't have nightmares and mental problems years and years down the road because everything was rosy or you did not flirt on the edge of a moral compass or see things that will change how you view life.

If you talk to enough veterans of war (WWII or other wars) you will find stories of men doing courageous things, true heroes and most time they don't consider themselves heroes. You will find stories of ultimate sacrifice. You will find stories of men who have gained bonds they will never break. You will also find stories of men scarred by memories of what they did and in some cases what they did.

It is a full gambit of things in war not just the good or the bad. Nor is it some grand conspiracy by people making all of these movies to paint a group in a bad light. Now that does not mean it does not happen, it just does not happen as much as some people think.

Furthermore in this series, just as in other war series by HBO, they consulted with the men over the story. Does anyone think they would get some of these vets to do the intros to each episode or sign off on the series if they are just going to go out there and try to besmirch them? Seriously.

So, I'll take that as a yes.

 

[burmafrd]

I think there was a deliberate decision to emphasize the worst of war in this mini series. Which is not a bad thing; and while Hanks and Spielberg politically are far left, they have really done a great service in SPR, BoB, and the Pacific.
In this day of video games and sadly almost video war, its probably a good thing to try and remind people just how bad it can REALLY get. And of course only as bad as Hollywood and the Networds are willing to show.