DISNEY'S PC WHITEWASH OF HISTORY - U.S. STARTED the WAR!

Rating: 1/10 (26 May 2001)

"Pearl Harbor" has a running time of just over three hours, half of which is devoted to a cloying love story with plot turns so predictable they were hackneyed generations ago, and thirty minutes of combat scenes. Beyond that, we get History so whitewashed by Disney it would appear that the United States was to blame for World War Two. It is not a terrible movie, but it is big disappointment, and sure to anger veterans for its PC "history".
In 1970, the excellent Pearl Harbor film, "Tora, Tora, Tora", did not have the benefit of digital special effects. "Pearl Harbor" does - and they are absolutely spectacular and alone make the movie worth seeing, and eventually getting on DVD. There are many poignant moments during the battle sequences, and the realism is remarkable - except for the near total absence of blood and gore, an unacceptable compromise Disney made to get its PG-13 rating.
Much has been made of liberal Disney, ever Politically Correct, whitewashing 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 are treated oddly. Sometimes very accurately, sometimes distorted, sometimes fictionalized. An example is the Doolittle raid. 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 bombing of 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 the planes was named "The Ruptured Duck" - accurate and a tribute to the great war film "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo". As the B-25's bombed Japan captured Americans, and Filipinos, were being subjected to Japanese atrocities and murders. Ignored by Disney, of course.
The acting is no more than adequate given the script limitations.

We have a banal romance mixed together with whitewashed 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. Hopefully though, the film will introduce World War II to the masses so ignorant of History thanks to public education failures.