Pearl Harbor is a war film made in 2001 by Michael Bay, who is an American film producer and director. Bay is well known for making big budget films such as Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, The Rock, Armageddon, Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Bay was much motivated by varied sets of factors that fueled and sparked his interests in film production. He drew his inspiration from noted directors such as George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, James Cameroon and Steven Spielberg. He was given the honor of being the Commercial Director of Year in 1994. Bay has come to be known for using product advertising in his different productions. In his film The Island, there are several advertisements of different brands such as Audi, Calvin Klein and Microsoft. When the film Pearl Harbor was released it was considered to be a sumptuous treat for lovers of war drama, and also for the added reason of being a film by the legendry director Michael Bay.
Pearl Harbor is a romantic film in being a classic trail of loving moments that are set during a war where everything seemed to be complicated. It started with old time friends Danny and Rafe joining the Army Air Corps as pilots where they happen to meet a navy nurse named Evelyn. Ben Afflick plays the role of Rafe as an army pilot under the supervision of Jimmy Doolittle as played by Josh Harnett. Rafe is much impressed with Evelyn and they fall in love with each other. Subsequently Rafe volunteered to fight in the war in Britain while Evelyn and Danny are assigned duties at Pearl Harbor. During the time that Rafe is busy fighting in Britain, events in Pearl Harbor get thumped and very soon there is a sudden engulfment of chaos and confusion with every body getting involved with the air raid that is known as Pearl Harbor. The classic story relating to the attack on Pearl Harbor is narrated from the view point of the two old time friends Danny and Rafe while they serve as officers with the Army Air Corps. Rafe is portrayed as a lively young pilot who is chosen by the British to fly in its European operations in the war at a time when America had not yet joined the Allied forces. During an air operation Rafe is shot down and considered to be dead. In the events that follow Danny tries to be nice to Evelyn in consoling her for the loss of her lover and in the process the two become emotionally close to each other. However Rafe eventually turns up alive and there is intense conflict between the two friends which makes them to become virtual enemies. The romantic triangle is put on one side with the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan. The two friends are given orders to take on a secret and extremely dangerous mission aimed at retaliation against the Japanese, as instructed by Doolittle. With the chaos and turbulence of Pearl Harbor the two are able to resolve the differences.
In essence Pearl Harbor oscillates in bad taste between sentimentality and obscenity; it appears in several occasions to be sentimental and vulgar at the same time. The courtships of Rafe and Evelyn assumes physical actions that involve nozzles and needles. There is also the odd proposal by Rafe before the night that he departs for Britain, much unlike the strong emotions that they enjoy with each other, when he tells Evelyn that it would be better if they do not sleep together since that would make their next meeting more joyous and intimate. The film is also seen as an advertisement campaign whereby one or the other thing is being sold. It could be the beautiful girls of Hawai, love, the mastermind tactics of Roosevelt, or the splendor displayed by the US Army. One can figure out that there is not much in the film that can be textured or measured and any spectacular argument is entirely missing. The makers of the film have rather acted at the behest of Disney in putting before the viewer an array of finished products that have been highly exaggerated in regard to their qualities so as to make the movie viewer to purchase them.
The script of the film is a little immature and hackneyed without any authenticity in the momentum with which the plot is portrayed. The director has attempted to cover up the moral and poignant deficiency in the film by making the shots flashy without creating any meaningful impact on the audience. The film reveals lack of artistic skills and intellect which is very much evident from the fact that much of the lightings, sets, performances and dialogues are done beyond what was required. Honesty is not seen as forming the basis in making the film. All the portrayal is in effect a superficial concern for what happened in history in pretending to show anxiety for the war casualties. One can also feel the concern whether the producers will be able to recover the exorbitant amount of money that has gone into the making of the film.
The movie has tried to cover too many things at the same time. At times it appears to be an across the board love story and suddenly it is transformed into being an extensive war film. At times it appears the film is great in portraying the bond between two friends. With all the given jumping around as portrayed in the film one is made to wonder whether the movie can be called great in any way. The movie is however good as far as the acting is concerned. The film has come out with the correct historical facts in keeping with the factual dates and order of events. It is considered to be a pro American film because it is not proper to claim any side to be the victim or the one who is playing foul. It is a fact that Pearl Harbor was a disaster but so was the dropping of nuclear bombs in Japan.
Bibliography
David Walsh, Falsification and Unreality. (2001). Web.
Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, Film Review: Pearl Harbor. (2009). Web.