Attack! The Battle for New Britain (film #2 on Side A of Disc #9 of War Classics DVD Megapack (Treeline Films, 2004)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This WWII film documents the invasion of New Britain, an island off the coast of New Guinea. It’s told from the soldier’s point of view, covering training, preparations for attack, landing on the beaches, and the gritty reality of combat. This soldier’s-eye-view of things makes the film a lot more interesting than it might be. Nothing about this difficult battle was prettied up for the cameras, and we get to see such harsh realities as Gis slogging all equipment through the muddy, insect-ridden jungle, hacking away undergrowth with every step; a field of Japanese corpses; doctors doing surgery in field hospitals under the most primitive of conditions (and one of the hospitals gets bombed by the Japanese); and soldiers burying their dead comrades in the jungle. It doesn’t even end with victory, which is unusual for this kind of film. The one unfortunate aspect of the film is the way the New Guinea natives were portrayed, despite the fact that they were on our side and helped the military a great deal with preparations for the attack. For this, they get called such respectful names as “Fuzzy Wuzzies” and “Blogs”. Other than that, this is an interesting, realistic look at what the soldiers of WWII had to go through.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: N/A. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

No comments:

Better Reading

Better Reading . Teenager Harold Wilson has a problem—he can’t read for (expletive deleted). So he has to spend all his free time studying ...