November
2002
November
is War Movie Month at the Trenton Library
It
might be a good time to remember what it's like to be at war
By
Dan Dodson
The
Trenton Library begins a two-month series of war movies in November.
It does seem a bit eerie that the library would predict our future.
The
schedule includes: Swing Shift on November 7 and Dark
Blue World on November 14. Both dates are Thursdays with show
times at 6:30 p.m. Please note you can land your Spitfire in the
library's side parking lot, you'll find it safe from enemy fire.
Goldie
Hawn plays Rosie the Riveter
Swing
Shift is a WWII movie about the stateside production effort.
The strength of the all-star cast led by Goldie Hawn, hubby Kurt
Russell, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter and especially Christine Lahti,
holds the movie together.
Kay
(Hawn) is devoted to her husband, Jack (Harris), and supports
his decision to enlist in the Navy after Pearl Harbor. Lonely
after he ships out, she takes a job working the swing shift-4
p.m. to midnight-building airplanes. There she meets and befriends
Hazel (Lahti), a former lounge signer, and Lucky (Russell), a
charming supervisor and part-time musician. Lucky pursues Kay
incessantly for months, thus setting up the conflict between Kay's
loyalty to her absent husband and her newfound identity as an
independent woman.
Director
Jonathan Demme made Swing Shift in 1984 with an almost
overbearing soundtrack that attempts to set mood in the movie
much like music videos of the day. It also depends on common 1980s
themes like women's lib and worker's rights. These shorthand techniques
help Demme tell a rather complicated story of life ripped apart
and rearranged by war.
Swing Shift has merit in its focus on the war's profound impact
on American society. Both Lucky and Kay are freed from the bonds
of a traditional life to pursue their own lives. They're better
people for it and by implication we're a better country.
Czech
pilots save Britain but are imprisoned after the war
Dark
Blue World (Czech w/ English subtitles) represents the best
in foreign filmmaking, as it pours energy into character development
while delivering an epic war film on a limited budget.
Lt.
Sláma (Ondrej Vetchý) is a confident "man's
man" who leads a small squad of Czech pilots before WWII.
His men admire him; the most beautiful girl in town loves him;
and his dog is completely loyal. When Germany invades the Czechoslovakia
without a shot fired, the pilots must reassess their attitudes
toward love, country and each other. They form a squadron in the
Royal Air Force to fight the Battle over Britain. When Sláma
and his young protégé Karel fall in love with the
same English girl, a battle between love and loyalty is put into
play.
Dark
Blue World is complex in its treatment of themes such as national
identity, love and loyalty. Each character embodies some aspect
of man's basic inner conflict, be it guilt, fear or sexual attraction.
The movie asks two important questions. First, will sex win over
friendship? Friendship is transparent (notice the balloon that
is floated in the officers club) and while sex can overwhelm it,
friendship can survive no matter what.
They
also question of whether their country is worth fighting for.
The story is told as Sláma's flashback while he does time
in a Communist labor camp after the war. It is true that surviving
Czech pilots were imprisoned after the war for being a threat
to Communist rule and weren't fully recognized until 1991. Sláma
concludes that it is not the government he is fighting for, but
rather his family and friends that make up his country and therefore
his cause. It is worth considering this view as America faces
the threat of more attacks.
Dark
Blue World is a masterpiece of film illusion made with a limited
$6.5M budget (the largest in Czech history). In many ways it's
a war epic superior in breadth and visual effect to the $150 million
Pearl Harbor. Writer/Director duo Zdenek and Jan Sverák
should start pitching for Hollywood money to leverage their efficient
and imaginative movie-making team.
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Dan
Dodson reviews new releases at www.livingonthenet.com
