October 21, 2006
Why can't we have Achilles?
Just saw Flags of our Fathers last night. Not a terrible movie, not a great one, but it does have an interesting examination into the nature and need for heroes. The battle scenes are confusing, not because battle is inherently confusing, but because they're strung together as memories in such an a-temporal fashion that it's really hard to discern a narrative. The story they tell is less the one of February and March of 1945, but of one man's attempt to deal with his father's legacy.
As I watched, I was struck by the seeming fact that it may be impossible to make a war movie in which the soldiers are not sensitive, emotional, guilt-ridden wrecks. Even Saving Private Ryan has its moments. Yes, war is terrible, No, I don't want to be in one, and Yes, soldiers do terrible things in war, but come on. This is not helping establish the movie's thesis that we need heroes. War movies really seem to be peace movies these days.
I think our culture could use a little Homeric virtue from time to time. Here's to 300.
