Review: HBO's "The Pacific"

I wrote this review of HBO's "The Pacific" for the Outlook. This is the full version that hasn't been butchered- er, cut- by the Media Editors

For the majority of America, the Pacific theater of World War Two is the greatest war story never told, a tale trapped in the glorious shadow of the European campaign. For this reason, and for the sake of honoring the First Marine Division for the hell they went through, HBO’s “The Pacific” is a story that needed to be told…and man, what a story it is. The 10-part miniseries, brought to life by the creators of the phenomenal “Band of Brothers”, is as visceral as it is gorgeous, a haunting yet surreally beautiful epic. The series drags you through Hades and spits you out, exploring the dark corners of war that “Brothers” didn’t dare to.

Unlike the somewhat unfocused style of “Brothers”, switching between characters as quickly as they die off, “The Pacific” hones its attention on the true stories of three Marines. Eugene Sledge, played by Joseph Mazzello, is the doe-faced youngster of the group. Gentle and soft-spoken with a southern-tinged accent, Sledge is eager to join the fight despite his parents’ fears. Robert Leckie, portrayed by James Badge Dale, is the charmer of group; carrying himself with a certain air of intelligence and wit, he’s the kind of person every guy likes to think they are. Lastly, there’s born-to-fight Marine and Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone, played by Jon Seda. All three parts, as well as the dozens of other supporting roles, are superbly acted. Though the dialogue, especially the banter between the characters, was borderline cliché at times, I couldn’t help but care deeply for each man’s fate. Every time their amphibious carriers rolled up to the beaches and dropped the ramp, I found myself holding my breath, praying that I’d see each man alive when the fire had ceased.

Right in the first episode, these men are thrown onto the beaches to fight for their lives with only 30 minutes of background story covering their existence back in the States. While getting into the action early on sounds like a good thing, some may find watching characters who they barely know storm a hail of gunfire unappealing (Why do I care if this guy got his face blown off? I don’t know him!). Though this approach may turn some off early on, patient viewers will be rewarded with watching the young Marines grow up before their very eyes as they hop from island to island, storming beach after blood-soaked beach. From the pristine sands of Australia to the blackened dunes of Iwo Jima, we watch them find love, fall from innocence, teeter on the brink of insanity, and through it all, depend on each other.

The series really takes to heart the statement “war is hell.” These war-ravaged Marines aren’t the stereotypical “Hooah!” group of muscle-bound grunts marching valiantly into battle: the men are muddy, emaciated, and broken. In one scene, the camera swaps between close-up views of each man’s face as they trudge from battle, an unsettlingly absent gaze stricken on their dirty faces. “We were more like dogs than Marines,” a veteran recalls.

“The Pacific” is the darkest World War 2 film out there, and when the soldiers find themselves in the thick of the jungle, things really start to get grim. The Japanese are perhaps the most terrifying and awe-inspiring enemies I’ve ever seen. Charging at the Marines wave after wave through the trees, letting off a nearly inhuman battle cry, it sometimes felt like I was watching “Dawn of the Dead” rather than a war movie. These aren’t the defeated, disheartened Nazis found towards the end of the European campaign. “These Japs’ll kill themselves before they let us on their land,” a Marine whispers to Sledge.

Especially towards the final episodes, the series is unflinchingly brutal in its depiction of the atrocities the war caused. You can almost feel a Marine’s pain as his limbs are ripped from his body in a mortar-strike, almost smell the burning flesh of Japanese soldiers stumbling from a bunker incinerated with flame-thrower. Even more horrible are the images of the Japanese citizens caught in the middle: a child lying face down in the mud, a woman begging Marines to take her baby before detonating a suicide bomb. This is by no stretch of the term an easy watch.

Through all of the hell endured, perhaps the most gripping and heart-wrenching scenes come in the final chapter as the men return home and try to move on with their lives. The sight of a still war-plagued Eugene Sledge having a nightmare stands out in my mind. His tormented soul tossing and turning in bed while his father, awakened by the whimpering cries, tenderly rests his hand on the other side of the door, helpless and wondering what the world had done to his son. Moments like that reach places that no amount of blood packets and prosthetic intestines could ever touch.

“The Pacific” grabs hold of you and refuses to let go. It isn’t until the closing sequence and the stills of the actors’ faces fade into the photographs of the men, the heroes, they portrayed that you exhale and realize- this hell existed.

***

5/5 Stars