HBO's The Pacific: reactions to (new title)

[Bill Moore]

AussieDavid,

Thanks for sharing this heroic saga with the council. It reminded me of when I was a boy on a camping trip with my father and his friend (his friend was a writer by trade, but he never wrote about the war) who was a Marine during WWII. That night while sitting around the fire after a long day of fishing I could see a visible mood change come over his face in the light of the fire, and then shared some of his experiences in the Pacific with us. For a boy, it was an education on how cruel the world really was in some places (during certain time periods), and how heroism (manifested in many different ways) was a common virtue.

There are millions of untold stories that I wish we could capture somehow, unfortunately that war is now often discussed unemotionally in history classes. The focus is on key dates, battles and causes, but I think our education is remiss in many way when it neglects to tell the human side of war.

Bill

[davidbfpo]

It was with mixed feelings I have watched in the last week the boxed set of DVDs, partly as i expected that nothing could equal 'Band of Brothers'.

Certainly different in scene presentation, notably with night fighting so dark - rightly - it was hard to follow. Harder to follow the characters too; the medal of Honour winner John Barsilone had an excellent portrayal.

Once again I failed to learn the lesson from 'Band of Brothers', to watch the last DVD first about the characters and the production. Australia did the film and history proud.

I have seen a few Pacific War films before and somewhere have Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers. What I had forgotten was the horrific death toll, so on my next visit to Arlington National Cemetery a few more places to visit. We shall remember.

Finally, what did SWC members think of the film? This thread was before it had general release.