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I don't really like war movies.
Well, the truth is, I don't really like war in the first place.
Basically war movies are about death, which makes me sad and I don't want to feel sad.
Saving Private Ryan, The Hurt Locker, Pearl Harbor... they all made me cry like a baby.
But suddenly, when we were watching the 1 hour war TV show, I was riveted. This show gave the characters a background, I felt for them, I wanted them alive. There was no dehumanization of war because we were introduced to war by these humans, people who were experiencing it all for the first time as well. The character we all loved the most (of course the newcomer or "cherry") has to die. Why did he have to get hurt? He was so sweet and kind and outgoing and encouraging! Through this character we lose our innocence about war, we realize that what we're seeing isn't just there for entertainment value, this is what happens in real life. And he seemed to truly love his life. Some of the other characters stories drew me in as well. The soldier with the glasses and bad temper seemed like an interesting character. The two women soldiers within their troop seemed like they had more of a story than they told. The amazing singer seemed like he had more of a story to tell. I also loved how they interconnected his song into a slower, almost acoustic tempo while they were lifting the soldier who had parts of his body blown off away.
Basically, the story felt real to me. Put a bunch of strangers in one place and see what happens seems to be a successful storyline to go with, but adding the fact that they are in war made the story even more interesting and foreign. I loved the filming techniques used, with lots of point of view, night vision and realistic fighting scenes. The actors were fantastic. Overall, this is something I would probably watch.
Another interesting look at war was the ABC show from last fall (that was later canceled) called My Generation. It was a look at a group of friends 10 years after the graduated from high school and one of the friends left a full athletic scholarship to college in order to join the army after September 11th. Friends mentioned how proud they were of him, how brave he was and how he left his wife who was pregnant to go overseas. It allowed for not only the look into this soldiers heart, but into the hearts of those around him. It was a more realistic portrayal of what it's like to leave part of your life behind whether you are at war or not. A part of the character missed war when he was at home and missed home while he was at war. Many shows and movies don't look that deeply into the multifaceted lives that soldiers have.