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Oh, Those Plucky Americans

© John Lovett

There are two new "war" movies coming out that demand my attention. The first movie, THE PATRIOT, is a Revolutionary War tale starring Mel Gibson. The second movie, U-571, is a World War II submarine story starring Matthew McConaughey and Jon Bon Jovi (?). Both these movies are scheduled for mid - year 2000 releases. This THE PATRIOT is not to be confused with a Steven Seagall movie of the same name.

Previously, I stated that I do not write movie reviews. Personally, I find most movie reviews and the reviewers to be pompous, elitist, and generally bereft of any information that would let me make a decision whether to see a movie or not. I hope that what I do is look at a film from a historical, or factual, perspective and render some sort of observation that could have made the film more "believable." To that end, I am now going to look at these two new "war" movies.

Directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) and written by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan), THE PATRIOT is the story of a South Carolina farmer (Gibson) reluctantly joining the Rebel cause, against his own pacifist leanings, along with his son. The story also involves Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox, as well as other real characters from that period. For the first time, the Smithsonian Institute is assisting on a motion picture. The prodcos, Centropolis Entertainment and Mutual Film Company, are also working with re-enactor organizations to achieve some level of authenticity. However, as one might expect, the advice being provided by both the Smithsonian and the re-enactors is not being followed by the directors. For one thing, the directors are using inaccurate, non - period artillery for the British troops. For another thing, all the British troops have red uniforms. Ah no, sorry, American Loyalist troops and British riflemen had green uniforms. Evidently, there are other historical problems with the movie. Will those problems effectively interfere with the story? No, I don't think so. Nevertheless, we shall see.

Written and directed by Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown), U-571 is the story of a group of American sailors sent on a mission to sneak aboard a disabled German U-boat to steal an encryption device that would give the Allies the edge they need to win the war. What they don't know is... Germans are on their way to answer the SOS as well. Based on the real World War II incident wherein the HMS Bulldog salvaged a German Enigma machine from a stranded German U-boat, U-571 changes this story to have the Americans saving the day.

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