I’m watching The War, and I have to wonder two things: (1) What kind of makeup are they putting on these people, because they look amazingly young for their eighties (full disclosure, my father who signed up with the Navy in 1942 at the age of 17 aand served on submarines doesn’t look near that good), and (2) what kind of nutritional supplemants were the people on, because they remember every last little detail (full disclosure, I haven’t talked too much about with my father about his wartime experiences, but he does remember quite vividly two things — how the Navy screwed him out of two weeks of leave between basic and signalman training, and how much he hated the peacetime Navy following the war — but his memory doesn’t seem near so detailed).
I have time to wonder this because the show alternates between what I like to call action and boredom. Great, I get to see the exact process of recycling a tin can, from removing both ends, to stomping it, to putting it in the tin bin. Can we get back to Gaudalcanal please, before I fall asleep. Marines are dying out there. I’d much rather listen to the guy tell the heartrending story about wishing his best buddy would hurry up and die on Bougainville because the sounds of him dying were keeping him awake than hear about how everybody pitched in on various drives stateside.
The show starts out as the story of 4 American towns in WWII, which is an odd organizational principle, but quickly it doesn’t matter. If they need a veteran to tell a story, why they just don’t mention what his hometown was. David Inouye is interviewed, and he wasn’t from any of the 4 towns, but they wanted a decorated Japanese-American so they got him. The show is an odd hybrid – a mix of on camera remembrance, photos and videos from the time, and voice over from the omniscient narrator. It’s kind of like going to the Golden Corral to eat – there’s a little of something for everybody, the food is good if uneven, but not outstanding.
I have to say though, one thing comes through loud and clear: war is hell, even if it is just or necessary.
