The
Pacific (2010 MIniseries)
HBO
Cast:
James Badge Dale, Joe Mazello, Jon Seda.
Rating:
PG
Run
time: 10 hours.
Genre:
TV/War.
Verdict:
Beautiful
(see rating
system)
Producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have
done it again with this stirring docudrama on the Second World
War.
While their first miniseries, Band Of Brothers,
focused on U.S. paratroopers fighting in Europe from D-Day
to war's end, this new 10-hour miniseries tells the story
of U.S. marines fighting in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor.
The Pacific deservedly won eight Emmy Awards,
including "Best Miniseries," and it's a rousing
tribute to heroism. Through the words of the veterans it's
also a profound commentary on the senseless waste of war.
The production draws on the true stories of
three Marines - Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge
(Joe Mazello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda). Many of the incidents
dipicted come from the acclaimed memoirs of Leckie and Sledge,
who both survived the war and died in recent years.
Basilone won the Medal Of Honor for his heroism
at the battle of Guadalcanal. He was sent back to the U.S.
to raise war bonds and then trained new recruits. However,
he volunteered for a second tour of duty and was killed in
the brutal fighting on the island of Iwo Jima in 1945.
The $100-million production, filmed in Australia, recreates
five major campaigns in the Pacific war. Often fighting hand-to-hand
with a fanatical enemy that would rather die than surrender,
U.S. Marines were young Americans in their teens and early
20s who volunteered to serve America's elite military unit.
The miniseries also shows the marines making the most of their
brief leaves, particularly in Australia where some men found
sweethearts and their future wives - those lucky enough to
survive, that is.
As the surviving vets explain in interviews
contained in the set's extras, the war changed men forever
and some remain deeply haunted by their experiences.
Each episode in the six-disc set is introduced
by a brief historical backgrounder, there are profiles of
the real Marines featured in the series plus an extensive
making-of documentary. It's available in DVD and Blu-ray.
