Rich Williams wrote
>Anyone see War Stories on NBC last night?
Ah! There were Two orange L-R's then?
I thought I was seeing some lapsed continuity when the under-the-bumper
slung fog lights on one orange vehicle seemed to have disappeared during
the massacre scene only to reappear later.
I quite enjoyed War Stories. The writer has either been to a few bang-bang
spots or listened closely to journos and relief workers who had. Much of
the dialogue rang true. Some of the personality types are to be found in
every hot-spot with the exception of the bizarre spy types the movie made
use of. Drinking at the journalist hotel bar at nine o'clock in the
morning -- very true to life.
Also portrayed just right was the odd combination of close pack behavior
and ruthless competitiveness that war correspondents display in a war zone.
And someone who has been to a few refugee camps did a great job in set
building and set direction, although you aren't actually likely to find
"pup" tents in a real camp. But the drifting wood smoke, the seeming
chaos, the kids everywhere, the paucity of men, it was all very good.
And I loved the business with the fly in fly out "celebrity visits a
refugee camp". The writer and director did a superb job of exposing those
things as the perversion of humanitarianism that they are. (I vividly
remember Charlton Heston on one such visit using Mogadishu as proof
positive that the "Right to Bear Arms" was just about the word of god.
There were a few things that just didn't work for me. For one, there just
isn't that level of sex going in a journalists' hotel in a war
zone. People just get too damned tired, and besides, everybody usually
smells and looks pretty bad.
The female photographer in the movie simply was not the type who would ever
be assigned to a war zone. Assignments like that are prizes that are
lusted and plotted after. There's no way an emotional wreck like that
woman would get a chance for glory in bang-bang land. And she was a crummy
actress on top of it all.
I found the whole Tower Two September 11 back story utterly unnecessary and
just stupid. But not as stupid as the hokey business with the CIA agent in
a rumpled white linen jacket and the ultra sophisticated conspiracy
plot. All of that was a direct stereotype steal from any thriller made in
the 1960's
It is unfair to bring it up, because I could hardly expect the production
to have actually been made in Uzbekestan, but I can assure you that the
countryside around Tashkent does not look at all like the hills backside of
Hollywood where this, the MASH TV series, episodes of Star Trek, and half a
hundred cowboy movies have been shot.
Great shots of Land-Rovers though and not a bad made for TV time passer.
Rick Grant
International Strategic Communications and Media Relations
Calgary Alberta
www.rickgrant.com
_______________________________________________
LRO mailing list
LRO@land-rover.team.net
http://land-rover.team.net/mailman/listinfo/lro
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jan 30 2003 - 21:23:11 EST