Disney's PC WHITEWASH of HISTORY, and Schmaltzy Romance

Rating: 1/10 (25 May 2001)

"Pearl Harbor", the biggest, most expensive, most hyped, and most anticipated, of all the Summer season's films, has finally arrived. Like a bomb flung from a Japanese warplane it has crashed into theaters with a resounding noise. Yes, for what this film could have been it is, in fact, a Big Bomb; for what it is, overall, it can be considered a mediocre let down.
The film has a running time of just over three hours, half of which is devoted to a schmaltzy love story with plot turns so predictable they were hackneyed generations ago. That includes the "lost lover back from the dead" routine, which was old even when it was done well, as in the classic "Waterloo Bridge" from 1941. We also received a noxious dose of an equally labored love triangle involving two lifetime friends. Beyond that, we get History so white-washed it would appear that the United States was to blame for World War Two.
Some Disney apologists have claimed that there had to be a story wrapped around the history, "or else we'd be left with just a documentary". Not so. Out on DVD is 1970's excellent "Tora, Tora, Tora", a Japanese-American production on the attack, and it was factual and compelling without the need for a none too convincing romance. For those who do want romance, done well in the context of the attack and America's entrance into World War Two, I suggest they rent "From Here to Eternity" from 1954.
Disney is telling us the actual attack sequence on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor lasted over 40 minutes in this movie. By my watch it was 30, tops, only about half of which involved attacks on American warships. The rest was much less spectacular aerial heroics by the two heroes.
Be it noted that in 1970, "Tora, Tora, Tora" did not have the benefit of digital special effects. In 2001, "Pearl Harbor" does - and they are absolutely spectacular and alone make the movie worth seeing, and eventually getting on DVD to be able to savor each frame of the attack. There are many poignant moments during the battle sequences, and the realism and verisimilitude is remarkable - except for the near total absence of blood and gore, an unacceptable compromise Disney made to get its PG-13 rating. "Pearl Harbor" bears no resemblance to the real horrors of the opening sequences of "Saving Private Ryan".
Much has been made of liberal Disney, ever Politically Correct, white-washing History to not offend those in overseas markets - Japan and Germany. This absolutely true.
We have here a timid, PC version of History so spineless, so gutless, so intellectually dishonest, one would think the United States was to blame for the war. The movie states that America cut off Japan's oil supply, thus all but forcing them into war, and into launching their infamous sneak attack on the U.S. Navy on December 7th, 1941. But at no time did "Pearl Harbor" ever mention why the U.S. cut off Japan's oil supply, which was due to years of Japanese aggression, war crimes, and atrocities in China, and an ever increasing Japanese totalitarian society dominated by militarists.
To Disney, there was no need to "offend" the Japanese by mentioning their invasion of China, or the fact that Japan had allied itself, long before their sneak attack, as part of the despised Fascist Axis that included Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy. No, not mentioned. Germany itself is barely referred to in a few brief grainy newsreels. If someone doesn't understand the reasons for World War Two - and which side represented Good and which Evil - they will not learn the answer from "Pearl Harbor".
Historical events themselves are depicted in various ways ranging from complete distortion, to convenient omission, to fabrication, to absolute accuracy. Some of the more irritating examples follow.
Jon Voight, doing a not very convincing interpretation of President Roosevelt, supposedly stood up on his own at a staff meeting to dramatize the need to strike back at Japan. Not so.
Our two heroes, fighter pilots, after shooting down a host of Japanese planes at Pearl, are recruited into becoming B-25 bomber pilots for Col. Jimmy Doolittle's subsequent raid on Japan. This never would have happened; fighter pilots stayed fighter pilots. Doolittle, played by a self-satisfied and tough-talking Alec Baldwin, bore no similarity to the real Doolittle. His B-25's did not fly in formation when bombing Tokyo either. Although one of his planes was named "The Ruptured Duck" - accurate and a tribute to the great war film "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", which should be rented and seen by all.
The film made various historical alterations such as eliminating from Roosevelt's classic Declaration of War speech before Congress his last emphatic words after resolving to achieve the final victory: "So help us God". Perhaps God is not PC.
The absence of the U.S. aircraft carriers during the bombing - so fortuitous for America's fortunes - was not referred to.
Despite growing evidence that Roosevelt knew beforehand about the coming Japanese attack and wanted it as the only way to get America into the war against Hitler, the film ignores that issue totally and presents FDR as surprised by it.
American Admiral Kimmell, commanding at Pearl, was somewhat overly scapegoated in 1941 for the disaster; here, he is shown much too favorably and as a victim of Naval leaders too obtuse to perceive the coming Japanese sneak attack, which is itself a specious over-simplification.
The attack began with Japanese midget submarines infiltrating the harbor and being engaged by a U.S. destroyer. Ignored in the film.
Doolittle's raid on Japan, and other cities besides Tokyo, actually resulted not in the Japanese moving back, as the end of movie narration claimed, but launching their biggest naval attack of the war. It, unfortunately for them, ended in defeat at the Battle of Midway, which was also not mentioned despite it being the true Turning Point of the war.
Curiously, despite such historical issues distorted or dismissed, the movie was careful enough to show, accurately, details such as the famous flag of Admiral Togo, who defeated the Russians in 1904, flying over the Japanese flagship carrier, the Akagi.
The performances of the three stars were adequate in the face of the banal dialogue they were forced to say. Ben Affleck and John Hartnett as the friends, and rivals over the same girl, did as well as could be expected. The glamorous nurse of their interests was played by Kate Beckinsale, looking lovely despite too much makeup even for 1941 - and apparently fighting anorexia during the filming.
Big stars Cuba Gooding Jr, and Ted Sizemore, also appear and do well, despite roles that are little more than cameos. Gooding, playing the hero navy steward, and first black man to receive the Navy Cross, made us wish we could have seen a little more of his life in a segregated Navy, and a little less of the romance, although another film just dealt with that topic. Dan Aykroyd as a fictionalized Navy cryptographer, and Mako as Admiral Yamamoto, do little more than look ever more serious and dour scene to scene.
Director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have done what they usually do with films - great action hanging together on a threadbare plot. For $140 million it is amazing they couldn't have found a better script. If they simply remade "Tora, Tora, Tora" word for word but with the new special effects it would have been better.
So we have a banal romance mixed together with white-washed Politically Correct History, but enough actual history and fabulous digital battle scenes to make "Pearl Harbor" worth seeing. Although be warned: you will squirm for the first ninety minutes before the attack starts.