A definite must-see with an unusual sense of group dynamics

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 1999)

Several vignettes concerning wartime shenanigans at a Mobile Army Hospital in Korea are related in this magnificently crafted film by Robert Altman. Donald Sutherland is wonderful as Capt. Pierce, Tom Skerritt equally fine as Duke Forrest. Though all of the major roles are played extremely well, a great many minor roles and even bit parts prove to be gems for a host of fine actors. If you see this film on video, you may want to watch it two or three times to catch some of the background dialogue you may have missed on the first viewing.
Be warned, however: MASH is a film with almost no sympathetic characters. No one is especially likeable, and indeed, the behavior of the "heroes" often seems repellent. But, in real life as in film, running into such a collection of people is always a possibility.
Strangely enough, the film, though certainly bloodier than the movie, does not seek to indicate that the often irrational and childish behavior of the medical staff is brought on by the horrors of war, as the later television series often tried to demonstrate. The doctors and nurses all seem to have been brought to Korea just as they are.
A tour de force of editing and direction.