Fury (2014) As some of my friends know, I love WW2 history, specifically the era pertaining Nazi Germany. I am fascinated albeit not in an obsessive Apt Pupil way about that era of time in which a country full of people got swept up in a literally murderous frenzy, crashed into a brick wall, went out in an almost Scorched Earth manner, got retribution just as bad if not worst than what they gave, and now is such a shameful part of their history that to bring it up in public is actually a crime. In rolls in Fury, a damn good war film discussing one of the worst parts of a war, that is close to the very end. The thing is all but over, but the danger of losing your life after all that surviving is still much very alive. That is where we find our group of heroes. Working together for years since North Africa, Sgt. Daniel “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt) and his men has just lost their assistant gunner. Enter Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman) who by clerical error or cosmic joke has been assigned to him. A wet behind the ears kid who was never trained as a soldier, Ellison becomes Collier’s personal project after hesitation on Ellison’s part lead to disastrous consequences. What starts as verbal and physical abuse culminates with Collier forcing Ellison to commit what today would be considered a war crime. (SIDEBAR: I want to take a moment and commend the filmmakers for this sequence because it articulates what many rah-rah patriotic films screw up. As much as we are painting as saints in the history books, we were most assuredly not. We did some truly reprehensible acts ourselves in war, given lack of resources, lack of morality, and that the Geneva Convention was years from being enacted. It was ballsy to show the U.S. Military in a negative light, and for that, the scene in question is one of the most powerful and chilling.) Soon enough, Ellison falls in line and falls under Collier’s tutelage, and comes to see the full scope of the horrors of war, and even coming to liking it a little. However, he tries to hold onto pieces of his soul whenever possible, and failing often, sometimes due to his squad losing theirs a long, long time ago. The film never shies from the sheer brutality of war, with the tank sequences being especially well done. A fight against a Tiger I is a standout. The cast chemistry is excellent and underlies how different people can form cohesive unit and mold each other into what is needed. The finale, a 25 minute last stand sequence is heart pounding and suspenseful, and expertly executed, no pun intended. “Ideals are peaceful, history is violent,” Collier tells Ellison at one point. That is true but he forgot to tell Ellison something else. Despite what a scorecard may say, or what a book may write, there are no winners. There are only the dead, and those left behind, forever scarred as sacrifices on the altar of peace, or perhaps a facsimile of peace. The ones lucky to live must contend with the harsh truth; wars and conflicts occur due to humanity’s innate inability to be just that; human. “Kane” NOTE: Thing I was mad about the most? They had the “Best Job I Ever Had!” part but they cut the part about making $1.35 a day. That was the context of the whole line and made it funny! They couldn’t spare five seconds to keep that in? youtube/watch?v=09w9MTtZDEM
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 01:27:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015