My world changed.

Rating: Null/10 (31 May 2001)

On May 30th I went to see Pearl Harbor. I had read many reviews.I have learned years ago not to pay attention to what reviewers or self styled reviewers have to say about a film. I know that the "perfect" film has never been made, and never will.
I watched the first part of the story unfold and was reminded of the "love stories" that were so much a part of the war films made during the WWII years. Of course that was before the meaning of love was changed to mean only a sexual encounter, and that romance was removed from many persons vocabulary.
I Was five years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I remember exactly where I was when the annoucement was made. My world as I knew it began to change. And the world around me made a very sudden change.
I wonder how many young people today really know that the world they live in, is a result of what began on Dec. 7th?
As the movie reached the portion where the "attack too place" I felt my pulse began to go a little faster. The attack was excellently produced and over the length of time it was on the screen, I had the feeling that I was there. The noise, the confusion, the anger, the loss of life was made very very real by the makers of the film. And the heartbreak!
After returning from Pearl Harbor last October, and having visited the Arizona Memorial, I read a book titled "Descent into Darkness. Written by a Navy Diver who was part of the diving teams who went into the complete blackness of the water, and helped search for survivors on the Arizona and other ships. While watching the frustrating scene where the sailors hand comes through the hole in the steel and could not be saved, reminded me of the book. When Commander Raymer (navy diver) entered the Arizona he found that many of the sailors had been decapitated from the force of the explosion, slamming them against the steel bulkheads (walls)
The ending of this fine film was of course based on a historical fact. It clearly showed the next step that was taken to show the Japanese that they indeed had "wakened a sleeping giant".
We (my wife and I) are going to see the film again, and buy the DVD when it is available.