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Generation Kill |
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MNN gives Generation Kill Five Stars! The most authentic
depiction of Marines in combat since Full Metal Jacket.
It's easy to be skeptical about war shows, considering
many don't get it right. But this is one that does. In
fact, it's so real civilians won't believe it, and
Marines (and others who served in Iraq) will revel in
its outlandish authenticity. Any Marine can tell you the
Corps is made up of many "extreme" individuals, and this
series has its share. No, these extreme, often profane
individuals depicted in the series aren't perfect, but
before any wine-sipping, tree-hugging civilian casts a
stone, remember this: "People sleep peaceably in their
beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do
violence on their behalf." (Attributed to George Orwell) |
 There's
macho, there's military macho, and then there's the
over-the-top machismo of the Marines. In the HBO
miniseries Generation Kill, one character--a
Marine--describes his branch of the military as
"America's pitbull." The seven episodes of Generation
Kill follow a battalion of Marines as they lead the
invasion of Iraq, ultimately rolling into Baghdad itself
by the last show. The language is dense with obscenities
and military jargon, but it's surprisingly easy to
follow, even if you don't study the glossary that comes
in a booklet with the box set. What isn't so easy to
distinguish are the characters themselves, except by
surface details: This guy has a hoarse voice, this guy
is an embedded journalist (a stand-in for Evan Wright,
the Rolling Stone reporter who wrote the book the series
is based on), this guy is a white supremacist, this guy
has a mustache, this guy is an officer obsessed with the
other guy's mustache. The problem is that people are
ultimately defined by what they do, and soldiers in war
are all doing pretty much the same thing: Shooting,
swearing, and sitting around as they wait to shoot and
swear some more. But Generation Kill isn't aiming for
personal identification; the creators of the series
(David Simon and Ed Burns, producers of the
critically-adored The Wire) aim to immerse the viewer in
the texture of the experience--which, in this case, is
mostly chaos and confusion. Sandstorms are as great a
threat as mortar fire; pizza trucks arrive out of
nowhere on the brink of a mission (conveniently
providing a bit of product placement); and the rules of
engagement keep changing as the goals of the higher-ups
grow increasing out-of-synch with the war on the ground.
Generation Kill captures the frustration and increasing
cynicism of the grunt troops with vivid skill, as their
simplistic morality--kill the bad guys!--grows more and
more hollow. Extras include some brief interviews with
real Marines; the usual making-of documentary, mildly
interesting but justly deleted scenes, and audio
commentaries; and entertaining video diaries from Eric
Ladin, the actor who plays the white supremacist. --
Bret Fetzer (Amazon.com) |
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