Army version of the "Cool Hand Luke"

Rating: 7/10 (10 April 2020)

This drama by Fred Zinnemann brings us the story about the life of American soldiers in Hawaii just before Pearl Harbor. A realistic portrayal of a soldier's life, with an emphasis on two romantic relationships and a stubborn soldier that is irresistibly reminiscent of the protagonist of the 1967 movie "Cool Hand Luke". The film won eight Oscars out of thirteen nominations. The Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography seems to me deserved, and even the Oscars for sound and the best supporting role that went into Frank Sinatra's hands, but thirteen nominations is really too much. I wonder what the competition was like if this was the best movie that year. On the other hand, I may not be able to look at it objectively because I have a big problem connecting with characters like these. Similar to Japanese films, where the cultural gap is almost insurmountable to me, the military mentality is so alien to me that their perspective on things, their motivation, and decisions, seems totally illogical and even sick, so I am not able to sympathize with them and for the most of the movie I was thinking - God, what a moron, no normal person would do this. Because of this, the end of the film was not distressing to me but rather irritating and, although I cannot say that I did not like the movie, it did not leave a particularly strong impression, so I give it one extremely subjective seven.
7/10