Sunday on HBO: Generation Kill

[babylonsister]

Yesterday, the headline in the paper was "People want to be fed happy news and gossip, not war and death". That got my attention. This sounds good, except that it's in 7 parts.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2008-07-10-generation-kill_N.htm

HBO scores a direct hit with 'Generation Kill'


Generation Kill
* * * * (out of four)
HBO, Sunday, 9 ET/PT

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Here's one cure for the problems ailing HBO: Just let David Simon and Ed Burns do whatever they want.

Having already provided HBO with one of TV's greatest dramas in The Wire, Simon and Burns now give the network its first great miniseries since Band of Brothers. Based on Evan Wright's acclaimed account of the invasion of Iraq, the seven-part Generation Kill is what you'd hope for from the people behind The Wire: an honest, barely adorned, sometimes painfully vivid representation of life as we live it now. It's journalism converted to art, with both benefiting.

As in the book, we follow Wright (Lee Tergesen) as he's embedded with "recon" Marines. He's along for the ride; so are we, which means taking things as they come, without super-sized heroes, trumped-up action or imposed story lines.

That means you have to realize that information, while it will come, will not be spoon-fed. If it all seems confusing, chaotic and poorly planned — well, from what these Marines have to say, that's apparently how it was.

Which is not to say that Wright, Simon and Burns were not extremely lucky in the way reality played out, because it's hard to imagine finding three more fascinating Humvee mates than Brad "Iceman" Colbert (Alexander Skarsgard), Ray Person (James Ransone) and James Trombley (Billy Lush). Just notice the way "Scribe" smiles with secret delight at every outrageous exchange between Colbert and Person, knowing he's found a journalist's gold mine.

Still, beyond the jokes, insults and profanities, the soldiers come across as well trained and disciplined, with a healthy American attitude toward authority: obedient, but not blindly, and not without question and comment.

These are men who are good at doing what we ask them to do. But what we've asked them to do is kill, so don't expect them to behave as if they're at the church social. No sensitivity is safe, no bigoted insult is unexpressed — and they're so outrageously homophobic it borders, as one Marine points out, on the homoerotic.

We know that no film about Iraq could please everyone; the question is whether any film can please anyone. If what you're looking for is either glorification or vilification, go elsewhere. What Kill has to offer is clarity and clear-eyed empathy.

TV's the better for it.

[tridim]

1. I have a feeling this series is going to piss me off

Just based on the line from the promo where the soldier yells to an Iraqi, "Vote Republican!".

No doubt it'll be great though, it's on HBO.

[Bozita]

2. Alessandra Stanley has a review in today's NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/arts/television/11kill.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin



July 11, 2008
TV REVIEW | 'GENERATION KILL'
Comrades in Chaos, Invading Iraq

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Restraint can be as important to a serious television drama as it is to art collecting or the dinner table. Particularly when the subject is as raw as war, sentimentality or florid emotionalism can offend and even repel viewers. Its exercise can be a sign of respect and sensitivity, but it can also seem smug, a veiled form of one-upmanship.

“Generation Kill,” an HBO seven-part mini-series about the invasion of Iraq that begins on Sunday, is bold, uncompromising and oddly diffident. It maintains impeccable dignity even as it tracks a group of shamelessly and engagingly profane, coarse and irreverent marines, members of an elite reconnaissance battalion that spearheaded the invasion. The odyssey of these men from training tents in Kuwait to occupied Baghdad is laid out with brutal candor and without the aid of maudlin cinematography or emotive music. The closest thing to a thematic score is the starched, staticky clatter of radio traffic: “Roger that” and “This is Hit Man II, over.”

It is a true story of combat and male bonding, but it is told disjointedly and atonally, perhaps because it pursues clashing goals. “Generation Kill” tries to honor the ordeal — and the humanity — of its heroes while exposing the futility of their quest. It was written by David Simon and Ed Burns, the team behind “The Wire,” and was adapted from the prizewinning book by Evan Wright, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone who was embedded with Bravo Company for the duration of the assault.

The script is faithful to Mr. Wright’s account, respectful of the soldiers he befriended and as opaque and ascetic as “The Wire,” an opus that forced viewers to parse multiple plots and a huge cast of characters without directions or subtitles.

more ...

[babylonsister]

3. "exposing the futility of their quest." Glad that got in there; thanks for

the additional info.

[Bozita]

4. air time in 5 minutes

[fishwax]

5. I just read that Simon's next project will be a TV show taking place in NOLA after Katrina

I think that could be great.

I'm looking forward to Generation Kill coming out on DVD, since I don't have HBO right now ...