The Pacific box set is finally out on Blu-Ray DVD! In this HBO miniseries – executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman – you will be awed by the intertwined odysseys of four U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy carrier pilot during World War II.
Back in 2001, HBO has aired Band of Brothers, ten brutal episodes focused on the World War II, the European theater in particular. And if you think that you have watched the worst of all, you’re wrong. Because the worst has not been shown in the series and instead in their project The Pacific.
Unlike in the Band of Brothers were soldiers fight the usual kind of war, the typical type where soldiers land in beaches from armored ships quietly, dominant suicide missions, considered bugs in their rice as meat just to get by – The Pacific was more focused on the infantrymen, focusing mainly on three Marines from different units, whose battles and life stores were also separate.
James Badge Dale plays as Robert Leckie, an intelligent aspiring writer who struggled to stay focused throughout the war. Jon Seda plays the role of John Basilone, a Medal of Honor winner. His heroism got him two unbelievable prizes, a trip home and a unconfortable role. Eugene Sledge played by Joe Mazzello has had the most psychologically tricky role: he has a heart murmur, one guarantee that he can leave the war zones but decided to have his name re-enlisted despite objections from his father. All three nailed their roles.
During the war, Sledge realized how true his father was because the more he gets himself into it, the clearer his realizations were. The war they were into challenges every soldiers’ mind and soul. They cannot rely to anyone because threats are everywhere. Rumors enveloped the entire team and soldiers witnessed atrocities one after another. The war has brought out the ugliness in soldiers in a way they didn’t expect. Acts of bravery, self-sacrifice and racism were very common among soldiers.
In the series, Marines hop from one island to another showing not the usual war images but the most horrifying ones such as civilians being mixed up during the fighting and Marines mercilessly shooting an unarmed, underage civilian in Hiroshima for the reason that they are there to kill Japanese men. The miniseries never showed judgement but was done in a way that the real war scene was shown for viewers to see. The Pacific’s tight focus on the lives of the three men made it easier to understand and follow, much more it’s movie-like narration. Heartbreaking scenes in spectacular firefights are numerous in the series: civilians and soldiers alike begging for death, torture victims fighting for their lives and mothers trying to save their children.
The Pacific will make us understand the sacrifices the Marines made during the war. This story will open your eyes on how the soldiers fight during World War II, how the war bent their characters and what became of them after World War II.
oh well, not really interested in the pacific. 😀 blu ray is something that we need to upgrade to by the way.