CHINESE SPECIAL FORCES: Operation Red Sea (2018)

                “Operation Red Sea” is a Chinese war movie loosely base on the rescue of 225 foreign nationals and 600 Chinese civilians during the 2015 Yemeni Civil War.  Chinese special forces participated in the operation.  The movie was timed to the 90^th Anniversary of the Peoples’ Liberation Army.  It was directed by Dante Lam, who had been an assistant director under action icon John Woo.  The apprenticeship shows in this movie.  It has been described as China’s “first modern naval film”.

                The movie begins in the Gulf of Aden in 2015.  Somali pirates capture a Chinese cargo ship and hold the crew for ransom.  Their leader wears an eye patch, but he does not have a parrot on his shoulder.  The Jiaolong Assault Team (basically the equivalent of Navy SEALs) is sent in.  The movie does not bother with the negotiation or planning stages.  Who cares?  We’re here for the action.  And that action includes super slo-mo.  So slow that we see the entire trip of bullets.  Now that the aperitif is downed, it’s time for the main meal and it will have several courses.  There is an ISIS type terrorist group called Zaka that will have to be dealt with.  They are trying to get yellow cake to build a dirty bomb.  A female reporter named Xia is hot on the trail.  She will link up with the eight-person (one of them is a woman) commando unit, but first they have to rescue the Chinese embassy staff from an ambush.  Then survive their own ambush.  Then rescue a Chinese diplomat from a village full of Zaka.  Not subtly.  Then stop the acquisition of the yellow cake by Zaka’s Bin Laden.  There’s a little talking in between the set pieces.

                “Operation Red Sea” is combat porn, but it is done with flair and a big budget.  There are breathers shoe-horned in, but the movie is basically a series of gonzo action scenes.  There is a very high percentage of action in this film.  Although supposedly based on actual events, it jumps the reality fence early and never looks back.  In some ways it copies from American special forces movies, but adds the Asian action that John Woo is famous for.  And where an American SEAL movie might have two missions, this movie has four.  More is better, right.  There are two ambushes.  There are two sniper duels.  The violence is graphic and unrelenting.  So unrelenting that no one has time to reload.  Which is good, because they don’t seem to carry any extra ammo.  As is required in movies like this, each action scene has to top the last.  Before the audience can limp out of the theater, they got a tank chase/duel!  They also got to marvel at the technology the Chinese military has for battling terrorism.  For instance, they have a mini-drone that can be maneuvered over bad guys to explode onto them.  Twice.

                You won’t get much character development, but at least the names of the commandoes is flashed on the screen when they first appear.  (Nice touch for those of us who had a hard time telling them apart.)  The movie does have two strong female characters.  Xia is the feisty investigative reporter (outside China, of course) and she is capable of morphing into an action hero.  Tong Li is the female operative and she holds her own with the guys.  She’s the Vasquez (“Aliens”) of the group.  The acting is good and they are not forced to say mindless snark.  The movie may be over the top, but it is not silly.  It clearly is meant to laud the Chinese navy, but it is not overly propagandistic.

                I don’t know whether to compliment the Chinese for copying American movies.  Why should our plots be off limits when everything else isn’t?  You will recognize cribbing from “Black Hawk Down”,  “Act of Valor”, “Lone Survivor”, and “American Sniper”.  This movie might not be in a league with those movies, but it puts China in the game.  I still prefer South Korean war movies, but the Chinese have some potential.  And if their special forces are like the movie depicts, we don’t want to fight them.  By the way, the last scene has a Chinese fleet warning American ship to stay out of Chinese waters.

                “Operation Red Sea” is an entertaining action extravaganza for guys.  Even with the two female characters, it is as far from a chick-flick as you can get.  If you are not a big fan of reality and prefer ammo-expenditure, explosions, slaughter of terrorists, and tanks dueling in a sand storm, it is a movie for you.  Just don’t watch it as a documentary of how the Chinese military evacuated civilians from Yemen in 2015.

GRADE  =  B    

CONSENSUS 76. Oh! What a Lovely War

SYNOPSIS:  “Oh! What a Lovely War” is a unique war musical.  Based on a play, it was directed with flair by Richard Attenborough.  The movie intercuts between the five Smith brothers who are enthusiastic volunteers, but soon to be cannon fodder, and the generals and leader who put them in the trenches.  The script mixes a large number of period songs and actual quotes from the historical figures who were to blame for Great War being so horrendous.  The cast is filled with familiar British stars.

BACK-STORY:  “Oh! What a Lovely War” was the child of author Len Deighton.  He became enthused with the project after he saw the hit play “Oh What a Lovely War” by the esteemed Joan Littlewood.  Littlewood had adapted a radio play by Charles Chilton entitled “The Long Long Trail”.  Chilton used only period music and quotes.  Deighton wrote his screenplay along with producing.  In a fit of pique over others wanting credits for work they did not do (including Attenborough getting a producing credit he did not earn), he had his name removed from the screenwriting credit.  Attenborough was chosen over Gene Kelly to direct even though it was his debut.  Deighton insisted Attenborough agree not to make any changes in the script.  A promise he kept.  Historian A.J.P. Taylor acted as historical consultant on both the play and the movie.  Most of the movie was filmed on the West Pier in Brighton.

TRIVIA:  wikipedia, imdb

1.  Because the Beatles were interested in making an anti-war movie, Paul McCartney met with producer Len Deighton about playing the Smith boys.  It could not be arranged.

2.  The 16,000 crosses for the final scene were put in pre-dug holes.

3.  The song “La Chanson de Craonne” is about the French army mutiny of 1917.  The singing of it was deemed an act of mutiny and it was banned in France in 1974.  The French government offered a million franc reward for revealing the author of the song.

4.  No one is shown dying in the film.  There is no blood.

5.  The trench scenes were shot at Brighton Municipal Rubbish Dump, in spite of the stench.

6.  The song “The Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin” was part of a campaign in Great Britain to criticize him for not volunteering for the war.  Actually, Chaplin was turned down because he was puny.

7.  Every time a poppy appears, someone dies.  Starting with Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

8.  There are 37 songs in the movie. 

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  3.0

Video Hound       =  N/A

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History  =  not on list

Channel 4             =  #40

Film Site                =  no

101 War Movies  =  yes

OPINION:  As you can see above, “Oh! What a Lovely War” is not a well-known war movie.  This is perplexing because it is the best in its subgenre of war musicals.  It is one of the most clearly anti-war films ever made.  If you know little of WWI, this movie will fill in some of the gaps.  It is also a great primer on WWI songs.  It belongs much higher on the list, but I am happy that it made the list at all.

PICTURE, QUOTE, MOVIE #57

1.  What movie is the picture from?

2.  What movie is this quote from?

Labiche! Here's your prize, Labiche. Some of the greatest paintings in the world. Does it please you, Labiche? Give you a sense of excitement in just being near them? A painting means as much to you as a string of pearls to an ape. You won by sheer luck: you stopped me without knowing what you were doing, or why. You are nothing, Labiche -- a lump of flesh. The paintings are mine; they always will be; beauty belongs to the man who can appreciate it! They will always belong to me or to a man like me. Now, this minute, you couldn't tell me why you did what you did.

3.  What movie is this?

  It is based on the book by Howard Fast.  The star was fascinated by the novel and wanted to ease his disappointment over losing the starring role in “Ben Hur”.  When Fast proved unable to make the jump to screenwriter, noted commie Dalton Trumbo was brought in.  This was a daring move as Trumbo was, at that time, blacklisted as a member of the Hollywood Ten.  He had run afoul of the House Unamerican Activities Committee during McCarthyism and was writing screenplays under pseudonyms.  After completion of the film, the star insisted Trumbo be credited by his real name – a move that ended the blacklisting movement. Kudos!   The first director (Anthony Mann) did not meet the stars’ standards so he was replaced.  It was not exactly smooth sailing after the change.  The massive egos of the stars made each scene difficult.  The director looked back on the film with far from fond memories.  Based on his recollections, you would think the movie was terrible.  He wanted the movie to be more gritty and less a hagiography.  He wanted more battle scenes, but test audiences reacted negatively (boo!).  The movie was the most expensive to date ($12 million). 

2018 MOVIE - Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero

                        “Sgt. Stubby” is the rare animated film based on a true story and the rarer animated war movie and the even rarer animated war movie based on a true story.  This separates it from “Chicken Run” and “Valiant”.  Another thing that separates it is it is not a comedy.  It is the story of a dog named Stubby who went from homeless to hero in WWI.  Stubby became a newspaper celebrity after the war, but had been largely forgotten since then.  The movie attempts to bring him to a modern audience, of kids.  It is a computer animated feature.  The first major one that was based on a true story.  It was co-written and directed by Richard Lanni and produced in Montreal and Paris.  A low budget film ($25 million) with little marketing, it bombed.  The lack of box office was partly attributed to competition from the behemoth “Rampage” and the oxygen-sucking “Isle of Dogs”.  It and Stubby deserved better.  It did garner recognition at numerous film festivals.

                        The movie opens in 1917 with the U.S. preparing for war.  A homeless bull terrier is befriended by a recruit named Conroy (Logan Lerman) in a training camp.  Stubby’s first big obstacle is overcome by Conroy teaching him to salute.  This makes him a better soldier than Conroy and his mates, according to the commanding officer.  His mates are a German-American named Schroeder and a dog-hater named Olsen.  The second obstacle is solved by stowing away on the troop ship.  They end up in the trenches with a French poilu named Gaston (Gerard Depardieu) as their tutor.  He shows them the ropes.  They, and today’s four-year olds, learn about life in the trenches (there are cute rats that try to eat their food!)  They also learn that war is heck with its artillery bombardments and poison gas.  The doughboys used bolt-action rifles.  They used periscopes to look out the trench.  Stubby proves adept at locating wounded soldiers, alerting about poison gas, and capturing spies.  He even saves a whole village.  That dog is magnifique!

 

                        “Sgt. Stubby” should have a future for middle school substitute teacher days.  At least the kids would learn something.  It hits the headlines of Stubby’s bio (see Historical Accuracy section below).  The tutoring is done in a kid-friendly way, but the facts are effectively chronicled.  The movie is surprisingly accurate although hardly realistic.  No man’s land is not a particularly scary place and the trench is like you want your four-year old’s room to be.  Why can’t your room look like a WWI trench?  To its credit, the film does feature a bombed out church.

                          Stubby is rendered as cute and charming, but he is not anthropomorphic.  He does not talk and he has no special powers.  He cannot talk.  He whimpers well.  Kudos to the voice actor.  The rest of the cast is fine.  Helena Bonham Carter voices Conroy’s sister.  The framing device is her narration (which is a nice touch because you wonder if Conroy survives).  Gerard Depardieu provides the French accent for Gaston.

                         As usual with computer generated, the dog looks more life-like than the humans.  Overall, the animation is fine.  They thrown in some cool animated maps to give the audience some geographical perspective.  Did you know that the Chemins des Dames is near Soissons?  It’s not Pixar, but it matches the material.  Balto goes to the Western Front.  The animation also matches the PG depiction of the war.  The trenches are pristine (and amazingly vacant) and there are little of the aspects of the war that made it so horrific.  The movie is more about the bond of a man and his dog than it is about man’s inhumanity toward man.  It does not rain and there is little mud on this Western Front, for instance.  Your children may get the impression that WWI was pretty cool if you had your pet with you.  However, there is a death thrown in at the end to give some perspective.  And you may have to explain that poison gas is unlikely to be used in your neighborhood.

                        In conclusion, “Sgt. Stubby” is effective edutainment.  Kids will like it and parents will not feel cloyed at.  It even includes a cameo from George Patton and his tanks so war movie buffs can show off their knowledge.  Kids, you know who that is?  But you won’t have to tell them who Sgt. Stubby was, the movie will do that nicely.

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  Stubby was the official mascot of the 102^nd Infantry Regiment, 26^th Infantry Division (as called in the movie – The Yankee Division).  He was either a Bull Terrier or Boston Terrier that hooked up with a training unit in Massachusetts in 1917 after America’s entry.  Robert Conroy adopted the dog and taught him to salute, which impressed the leadership enough to allow him to stick around.  He stuck around for the full 18 months and 17 battles.  He became the most decorated war dog of WWI.  The movie does not cover all seventeen battles, but it does begin at the Chemins des Dames and ends in the Argonne.  The maps are very helpful with this.

                        It manages to catch most of Stubby’s resume.  He did get wounded by grenade fragments in a raid on Seicheprey.  He did warn of poison gas attacks and was eventually given his own gas mask (but not until after being a victim).  Saving the village was an exaggeration, but he was given his chamois coat by villagers.  He did warn of artillery bombardments with his doggie senses.  He did locate wounded soldiers in no man’s land.  And he apparently did capture a German scout by biting him on the ass.  Now, keep in mind, this biography was based on newspaper accounts and there’s a good chance that the dog’s exploits were enhanced.  You can’t blame the screenwriters for this.  It was a nice touch adding Patton with his M1917 tanks (American-made French Renaults), although it smacks of pandering to fanatics like me.  Kudos for showing him afoot!

                        As a post script, Conroy smuggled Stubby home where he became a celebrity.  He attended Georgetown Law School with Conroy and became the football team mascot.  He led military parades and met Presidents Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge.  He was presented a Humane Education Society medal by Gen. Pershing.  He died in 1926 and is now on display in the Smithsonian.

GRADE = B