Friday, December 31, 2004

A BRIDGE TOO FAR

I had vague fond memories of this pic, but after Band of Brothers it hardly holds up. There's no thematic center. It seems to be anxious to show how Operation Market Garden was always doomed because of blinding stupidity on the British part, though Eisenhower always maintained later it was just a gamble that had to be tried. So you have a lot of stars chasing around Holland getting in personal trouble because of the snafus. Unfortunately they're all playing generals, so that rings false -- generals rarely get in personal trouble. And generals rarely get to emote, so what's the point of having all the stars? I'd rather follow one company -- oh, wait, that was Band of Brothers.

I'm rambling, because there was so much wrong with it. Attenborough does love his pageantry. But the main thing wrong with it was it wasn't about one thing. It was trying for epic scope. But even epics are about one thing. The Iliad is about the rage of Achilles.

I wonder if The Longest Day has the same problems...

10:16 AM

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