Film Review
The abject lunacy of war has probably never been conveyed more
effectively, nor with such biting wit, than in this superlative black
comedy - the film which established Robert Altman as one of the leading
directors of his generation and inspired a long-running television
series that ran for 251 episodes over 11 years. Few films manage
to evoke the spirit of their era more vividly than M.A.S.H.
does. It was made at a time when anti-establishment sentiment in
America was at its height, fuelled by the seemingly interminable
Vietnam War which was slowly but surely draining the country's
lifeblood and self-confidence. M.A.S.H. captures the moment
brilliantly, and with a satirical edge so razor-sharp that you could
almost shave yourself with it.
One consequence of the cultural revolution that resulted from this tide
of anti-authoritarian feeling was the dramatic shake-up taking place in
Hollywood. Firebrand filmmakers with something to say began
to take over the moviemaking industry and for once were overwhelmingly
driven not by huge profits but by artistic and political motives.
Robert Altman was part of this American New Wave, a maverick whose
unconventional techniques were put to good use in M.A.S.H., his first
truly great film.
With still much to learn about the process of filmmaking, Altman was
not loved by his actors or his technical crew and the making of this
film was a fraught experience for all concerned. The animosity
between the director and his star Donald Sutherland was so strong that
the two were barely on speaking terms throughout the making of the
film. None of these off-screen tensions is apparent in the film,
which succeeds in just about every department and was a worthy
recipient of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in
1970. Ring Lardner Jr won an Oscar for his screenplay,
which effectively garnishes the inescapable tragedies of
war with bucketloads of mordant off-the-wall humour. Another
beneficiary of the film was Altman's 14-year-old son Mike who
wrote the lyrics for the title song
Suicide is Painless
and reputedly earned more from publishing royalties than Altman himself
earned from directing the film.
M.A.S.H. (the film) has a much darker edge to it than its spin-off TV
series and it does not take may viewings of the film to see just how
thin and brittle its veneer of anarchic humour is. Virtually
every other scene in the first half of the film shows us the mangled
remains of young soldiers being carried on stretchers or cut open in
grisly Technicolor detail on makeshift operating tables. These
images of gore-soaked visceral nastiness would merit an R-rating if
seen in a contemporary horror film but here they serve merely as an
incidental backdrop to the story, which is essentially about a group of
army surgeons who have to resort to frivolous hippie fun and games so
that they can survive the gruelling experience of wartime
service. The natural reaction of the spectator to the
horrors of war is in stark contrast to the attitude of the protagonists
in the film, who seem to have become completely desensitised to such
sights as a human being with half his face blown off.
By the time M.A.S.H. was released in 1970, public opinion in America
had already turned against the Vietnam War so it is hard to gauge what
impact the film may have had. Tellingly, explicit references to
the Korean War are very few and far between in the film, so most
audiences would have seen it for what it was, a blatant anti-Vietnam
War statement. The film's enormous popularity (to date it has
grossed 82 million dollars) shows that it struck a chord with the
American people, who had by and large accepted the futility of the
Vietnam War long before their political leaders were able to
disentangle the country from the conflict. Forty years on, with
America once again locked into another intractable and aimless war,
M.A.S.H. has an obvious resonance, reminding us that the reality of war
is no laughing matter.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
During the Korean War (1950-53), Captains Hawkeye Pierce and Duke
Forrest create a stir the moment they arrive at the American Mobile
Army Surgical Hospital to which they have been assigned. Despite
being first rate surgeons, Hawkeye and Forrest have a fierce rebellious
streak which proves to be more effective in eroding military discipline
than the entire North Korean army which they are supposed to be
fighting. With the unit's commanding officer away, Hawkeye and a
recently arrived thoracic surgeon, Captain Trapper John McIntyre,
reduce the camp to a state of virtual anarchy in next to no time.
This so offends the chief nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan, that she
drafts a letter of complaint to her superiors, assisted by Major Frank
Burns, who has also fallen out with Hawkeye. No sooner have they
done this than Houlihan and Burns succumb to an uncontrollable urge of
shared carnal desire, which ends up being broadcast throughout the camp
over the loudspeaker system. Having cooled Hot Lips
Houlihan's ardour, Hawkeye then comes to the aid of the camp dentist,
Painless Waldowski. When he fails to prove his manhood with a
visiting nurse, Painless becomes convinced that he is succumbing to
dormant homosexual tendencies and decides that he must kill
himself. Hawkeye comes up with a plan to restore the dentist's
self-esteem and libido, with a fake suicide pill and a re-enactment of
the Last Supper. Then he faces an even bigger challenge. To
win a twenty dollar bet he has made with Duke, Hawkeye must figure out
a way to prove that Hot Lips is a natural blonde. It's a tough
life in the army...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.