In an insane world sanity is of little use.

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2012)

The film is set during a campaign by the United States Army Air Corps, to oust the Nazi Germans from the then fascist Italy during World War II. Alan Arkin plays the main character Captain John Yossarian, in this surreal black comedy.
Catch-22 is undoubtedly one of those "Marmite" films, as in you will either love it or hate it and the reasons for loving or hating it will be just as complex as the storyline itself, outlining the decent into the insanity that is the war machine. Shot from the perspective of the anti- hero Captain John Yossarian (Arkin) a bombardier aboard a B-52 warplane. Has seen to much war and death in particular the death of a gunner, whom Yossarian barely had time to get to know. Seems to haunt Yossarian throughout the film with increasing gore and intensity that in my opinion is (by shear design of (Nichols) to show us the wounds that we associate with warfare all the while Yossarian is wrestling with wounds that cannot be seen.
With an all-star cast and wonderful cinematography from David Watkin whom was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts for this film. Wonderfully utilising the Panavision lenses to capture wide shots with beautiful precision with the copious number of long takes, this imparts upon the film a sense of realism that would certainly be lost with more edit/cut points. As anti-war propaganda goes this film is poignant in its overview of callous commanding officers who seem to care more about making it into newspaper articles than keeping up the morale of the men under their command not to mention how Catch-22 illustrates the corruption that war breeds in men.
Financial corruption highlighted by theft of US Army Air Corps property to sell for profit. When this film was released, the United States of America was fighting a Cold War with the United Soviet States of Russia, and a dubious conflict against farmers in Vietnam so far to say that war was at the forefront of US politics. Then along comes a film that satires the bureaucracy of war, add into the equation that post-traumatic stress was being researched in earnest, due to the mental states of the Vietnam Veterans returning to the US. A few sore spots and tender nerves have been commented upon in this film. However, with a non-liner story line this point is somewhat lost, so is an underlying theme of American Corporate greed, putting profits in front of the lives of soldiers which seems to ring true in the Theaters of War today.
Catch-22 is really a film of two parts, comedy for the first half of the film, refreshingly not typical American slapstick but dark and cerebral, and often sexually orientated. Not surprising there since the main stage for Catch- 22 is an Army Air Corps base where the only women are the nurses, there are only a handful there, and they know it. Throwing sexual tension into a mixture of insane orders, insufficient equipment due to it being sold for a profit, and egotistical commanding officers.
The second half of Catch-22 gets all serious pointing out in no uncertain terms the effects on the mental state of service men that are continually ordered to fight and kill, and watch their friends getting picked off. With inflexible commanding officers and a general (wonderfully played by Orson Wells) who just seems to just want to shoot his subordinates. Our intrepid anti-hero, Yossarian, cowardly he is in the respect that all he wants is, to get out of the war and go home and to get laid.
Yet Yossarian displays strength of character seldom seen when he refuses to bomb a town that seemingly has no strategic value to friend or foe. For so many atrocities in war have been followed by the excuse "I was only following orders", for an officer to disobey orders for not making logical sense, however, in some circumstances the reasons for some actions cannot be fathomed by the subordinates, as the lower ranks or public are not always given all information due to operational secrecy. However, Catch-22 is not a film about military law if that is what you are after then this I would suggest "A Few Good Men" or "G.I. Jane".
Having said all that, Catch-22 is a film of technical precision, with beautiful set pieces and a darker take on the heroic face of war, and how desperation can lead a rational person to commit seemingly insane things, even though the rational thing to do is the insane thing. If you are of the frame of mind that can fathom this film then you will thoroughly enjoy it. However, if not then this film will seem akin to The Emperors New Suit. For me personally it is interesting to watch such a film and the comments it makes.
Such comments could well be made today however, today's film makers seem to want to stay as far away from these issues as possible, and just show us giant robots that duke it out. In High Definition, Three Dimensional, Computer Generated Imagery, with about as much substance and depth as the images themselves or what the High Society was up to during the major conflicts that defined the past two hundred years.