In Doug TenNapel’s look at how politics undermine the enjoyment of modern day films, he writes:
…when a new trailer is released that takes place during the Iraq War[,] I turn to my wife and whisper, “Don’t tell me; it’s about a gung-ho soldier who wants to fight for the good cause of America then sees enough friendly fire and slaughtered children to gain a conscience that the whole war is a lie for oil.”
Don’t we all.
It wasn’t always like this. In fact, it was just the opposite. When we meet Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine he’s selfishly all about Rick and using a shattered heart as an excuse to stay cynically neutral in a war against evil.
Then Ingrid Bergman walks in.
But the love story in “Casablanca” is a head feint. At heart, Julius and Philip Epstein’s masterful script isn’t about Rick and Ilsa, it’s about a man getting over himself and realizing there’s something happening in the world more important than him – more important than “the problems of three little people.” Before the fade, Rick loses his cynicism and gives up the thing he loves most to re-join the fight.
In our current war against evil, Big Hollywood has embraced the Reverse-Rick-Arc which strives for an effect much more insidious than just a tired, lazy cliché that gives away most of the plot before it begins. Over the last few years, in most every film involving sand and a firearm, the goal has been to put the audience on the side of the protagonist and as his or her belief in country and the war is undermined so too (Big Hollywood hopes) is ours. The end result has been at least a dozen embarrassingly bad films with a 100% flop rate.
William Wellman’s timeless “Battleground” (1949) is another example of how Classic Hollywood handled themes of country and self-sacrifice in both a much more complicated and creatively interesting way (not to mention, morally defensible).
Set during WWII’s Battle of Bugle, “Battleground” follows a small patrol of soldiers lost in the literal and figurative fog of war. As conditions worsen, food runs out, and the enemy closes in, the men become increasingly bitter and disillusioned. They start to question what it’s all about and accuse the military of abandoning them.
Big Hollywood would close on this note, leaving our heroes angry at their country and cannon fodder for a worthless fight for an America no better than the enemy. Just before the climax, however, “Battleground” handles its characters growing (and realistic) cynicism with this:
[youtube XrnB1OMhETI nolink]
Hollywood used to be great.
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