Vulgar, Blasphemous, Mean Spirited--And Brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (16 May 2005)

Although M*A*S*H is probably his most audience-friendly film, Robert Altman's style of over-lapping dialogue and multiple themes provokes a divided reaction even in this early work: you either like it or you don't. Perhaps more significant, however, are expectations raised by the popular and long-running television series the film inspired: the series concerned likable characters playing situation comedy with a dramatic spin. Viewers who expect to see this repeated in the film will be disappointed--and very probably outraged as well.
Like most Altman films, M*A*S*H is character-driven, and there is no plot in any traditional sense. In general, the film concerns three surgeons (Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke, here played by Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, and Tom Skerritt) who are drafted to serve in Korea. Sharing a mutual fondness for martinis and a complete disrespect for all things military, they run riot through the M*A*S*H 4077, mocking the efforts of by-the-book military officers to make them toe the line and using the army's need of their skills to prevent higher authority from penalizing them for their antics. Most of the characters (including the three leads) are somewhat unsympathetic, and the film's comic elements are deliberately grotesque, mean-spirited, blasphemous, sexist, and vulgar.
Altman clearly intends us to read the Korean setting as a metaphor for Vietnam and the disrespect for an inept military authority as a metaphor for America's increasing disenchantment with military intervention in Vietnam. At the same time, the film's graphic surgery scenes provide us with a clear vision of the human toll war requires. Because the film mixes these points of view with comic elements, it is frequently described as an anti-war black comedy--but the film is so profoundly bitter that the word comedy, even when codified as "black," is rather misleading. There are certainly comic elements and even a few laugh-out-loud moments (most centering upon Margaret "Hotlips" O'Houlihan, brilliantly played by Sally Kellerman), but the tone of the film is so bitter that the laughter induced is very rueful indeed.
Seen today, M*A*S*H feels slightly uneven in execution and very much of its place and time--but even so the cast performs with an extremely compelling immediacy and Altman's dark and multi-layered vision makes a powerful statement. The DVD release features a superb restoration of the film, a rather dismissible director's commentary track, and four short documentaries re the film which are extremely interesting but often redundant. While I do recommend the film to newcomers, I offer the warning that response to the film varies considerably from individual to individual.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer