Free biography of Guy Gabaldon Without going into details, this is a normal war movie. But I really appreciate this film. And there are several reasons. Let me tell you more about them.
This film touches on a very delicate issue - the situation of American citizens, Japanese by nationality during World War II. This is not usually told in the cinema, but there were concentration camps, where civilians were actually sent. It's such an uncomfortable truth to America. Until recently, I thought there was only one movie on the subject, Come See Paradise, directed by Alan Parker in the '90s. But it turns out to be much more spicy. Back in 1960, Phil Carlson was talking about it. And so delicately, gracefully, walking. Telling a story about a war hero - a man who, thanks to his knowledge of Japanese, achieved that a large detachment of the enemy was captured, it was simply necessary to tell about the hero's family - the Japanese foster family raised the boy from poverty, came out and made him a real person. And these proud, respectable people were suddenly outlawed, in a camp. It's a very subtle moment and in Carlson's film it's just fixed. The audience needs to be evaluated.
Interesting and the feat itself. Guy Gabaldon did capture at least 1,500 men and did so, largely alone, thanks to his quick-wittedness and courage. Even more interesting is that the filmmakers became interested in this episode only thanks to the TV show, which was attended by Guy himself - still a young boy. In the film, this moment is given central attention - a story similar to a soldier's tale comes to life and is presented to the viewer very realistic.
And in this whole canvas, it may seem that the film is an ordinary, typical of Hollywood heroism, a propaganda tale about an epic hero with some intersperses of true historical details. But Phil Carlson is on top here. It shows not only military routines. Like Stanley Kubrick, he shows soldiers' passions. It is worth a scene that stretches for more than 10 minutes, in which one simple soldier's party with ladies accidentally met is shown. Drunken revelry turns into depraved striptease. The ladies take the baton from each other, and the soldiers begin to salivate. The psychology, tension, intensity and genuine eroticism of this scene does not correspond to the understandable and good patriotic war cinema of Hollywood. Realism is expensive.
And the film itself is very powerful. The apparent simplicity, budget modesty, the absence of stars and special directorial delights here is exactly a deception, a lie. Phil Carlson enters the territory of meaning, context and confidently wins there, creating a complex, multifactorial, deep work. And thanks to this significance, even quite modest in his talents Jeff Hunter brings a real impeccable example of the main role.
9 out of 10