To wit: Midway.
We in 2019 America probably all know the most essential fact of Pearl Harbor—that the Japanese bombed us—but even if we understand the larger significance of the event—that the unprovoked bombing of our Hawaii Naval base dragged us from being a neutral country to an active participant World War II ... and a participant who was crippled from the start with an overwhelming number of our Pacific Naval fleet destroyed—we’ve almost all but forgotten the subsequent battle of Midway, where through a LOT of strategy and a touch of miracle we managed to turn the tide of the war and keep the United States from becoming captured and controlled by the Japanese.
The new Midway movie, which opened this weekend for Veterans’ Day, tells this story with clarity, rich historical context and breathtaking CGI. But more importantly, it tells the human stories with CGI perspectives that bring to life the in-the-boots bravery and the terror and the sacrifice of our soldiers with heart-stopping clarity.
It’s so easy to see veterans of long-ago wars as the old, feeble, wrinkled people they’ve become from our current perspective. But historical movies like Midway help us see who they were when they were young and vital ... and exhibiting the bravery and the terror and the sacrifice that protected our country’s freedoms then and now.
The Midway movie is excellent cinema on its own, filled with artful drama and excitement and handsome movie stars, but more importantly it’s a documentation—again documentation through the lens of cinematic storytelling—of the historic events and lives and stories we as modern Americans really can’t afford to forget ... both as patriotic, informed citizens and as a nation grateful to the veterans who’ve served on our behalf.
Go see it.
We in 2019 America probably all know the most essential fact of Pearl Harbor—that the Japanese bombed us—but even if we understand the larger significance of the event—that the unprovoked bombing of our Hawaii Naval base dragged us from being a neutral country to an active participant World War II ... and a participant who was crippled from the start with an overwhelming number of our Pacific Naval fleet destroyed—we’ve almost all but forgotten the subsequent battle of Midway, where through a LOT of strategy and a touch of miracle we managed to turn the tide of the war and keep the United States from becoming captured and controlled by the Japanese.
The new Midway movie, which opened this weekend for Veterans’ Day, tells this story with clarity, rich historical context and breathtaking CGI. But more importantly, it tells the human stories with CGI perspectives that bring to life the in-the-boots bravery and the terror and the sacrifice of our soldiers with heart-stopping clarity.
It’s so easy to see veterans of long-ago wars as the old, feeble, wrinkled people they’ve become from our current perspective. But historical movies like Midway help us see who they were when they were young and vital ... and exhibiting the bravery and the terror and the sacrifice that protected our country’s freedoms then and now.
The Midway movie is excellent cinema on its own, filled with artful drama and excitement and handsome movie stars, but more importantly it’s a documentation—again documentation through the lens of cinematic storytelling—of the historic events and lives and stories we as modern Americans really can’t afford to forget ... both as patriotic, informed citizens and as a nation grateful to the veterans who’ve served on our behalf.
Go see it.
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