Viewed in
2010
Premise
During the Korean War, a U.S. medical base in Korea is run amok by surgeons who care more about saving lives than following orders. Based on a novel I never read.
Liked
Funny comedy.
Disliked
Lack of seriousness.
Thoughts
A funny, and sometimes disconcerting film.
I heard that it created a lot of controversy in 1970's America for its war subject, and the constant juxtaposition between military humor and serious surgery scenes. People walked out on it during the blood-spurting part. Watching it 40 years after its release, being too young to relate to the Vietnam War, this film seemed tame and innocuous to me. Probably not the film's original intentions.
The comedy was extremely funny. I laughed a lot throughout the whole thing, even though I had never set foot in a boot camp. Anyone who dealt with big business nonsense could relate to some of the characters. Other moments were so frat house-like that it felt like "Animal House with army surgeons".
My favorite moment was when the dentist wanted to commit suicide because he thought he was gay, and the gang gladly "obliged". If that was not edgy enough, the film makers threw in a "Last Supper" parody for good measure.
Overall, the cast was top-notch, from the religious square (Robert Duvall), to the clueless colonel, to the completely out of sync Radar. Everyone had they moment to shine, or to get embarrassed. It was jarring to see young Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland as the lead surgeons/instigators. Sutherland was so young he looked just like Kiefer. Having only seen Donald in serious roles, I was impressed with his slick, subdued comedic demeanor.
The late, great Robert Altman did a good job of directing. I hate it when I cannot tell one solder character from another in war movies. In this case, Altman made sure that I could distinguish the ten to fifteen ensemble members running around in the madness and understand who's doing what to whom. Not only were the characters unique, but there were visual hints as well.
What prevented me from loving the film was that I could not take it seriously. Each subplot had an episodic feel, and there were no consequences for the story or for characters' actions. Even though the surgery scenes were bloody and devoid of silliness, the life and death aspect was rarely played up, nor did they seem to affect the characters. The only touching moment was when the (drafted) soldiers failed to prevent a local kid from being drafted into the Korean army.
Some parts were dated when it came to comedic gags involving minorities: the only good American football players were black, the gay dentist was later "cured", and some of the male soldiers' treatment of female soldiers were borderline misogynistic. They were not mean-spirited, just a sign of the times.
What sucked was that the film image was blurry at times. I hope that was due to poor DVD transfer, and not poor cinematography. Also, what's up with the sudden ending without credits?
The film contains lots of hilarious comedy, but I wished it was more than that. I interpreted the message to be that in maddening times, you need some humor or zaniness to survive. What bugged me was its failure to emotionally impress that upon me.
What I would change
Nothing.
