Over There
Did anybody see “Over There” — the new F/X series, Wednesdays at 10 p.m.? This is one intense, powerful show.
I can’t say whether it’s authentic or not. I’ve never been to Iraq (I worked in Iran briefly in the 1970s) or any other Arab country, and I got out of the military 32 years ago (the Navy). I was on a Destroyer Escort off the coast of Viet Nam — nowhere near the danger of fighting on land.
All I can say is, "Over There" is one riveting series about the war in Iraq. It easily rivals any of the Viet Nam movies I’ve seen — Platoon, Full Metal Jacket. It sure brings home the contrast between the people who do the actual fighting and dying, and the powerbrokers who plan wars and invasions like they’re moving pieces around on a chess board.
After just one episode you don’t really know the main characters yet, but it’s gonna be really gut-wrenching and heartbreaking to get attached to people and then have them get killed or maimed in action.
So, if you saw Over There, what’d you think? Was it true to life (if you’ve been over there, or been in the military recently)? Let me know what you all think.
posted by Tom Harper @ 8:24 AM
7 Comments:
Haven't seen the programme yet. Anyway, my religion forbids me to watch such programmes.
Haven't seen the show, but it sounds intense. I did check out the above commenter. His site is pretty funny.
PopeBenedictXVI: That’s an interesting religion you’ve got there. I might convert, but not until after Over There has finished its season.
Jet: Yeah, that show is a real nailbiter. It’s gory as all hell, which must be pretty accurate for a show about people fighting in trenches, surrounded by landmines, enemy soldiers and “civilians” with grenades.
I watched the beginning of it. But I turned it. I am sick and tired of people glorifying war. They are profiting off a war. IT is TV war profiteering.
I never knew that war and the glorification of it would appear on my TV screen.
Are networks so desperate that they are willing to appear to someone's sense of nationalism that they need to put shows like this on?
Samantha: I don’t think this program glorifies war at all — just the opposite. It’s very graphic and shows the horrors of war. I suppose there are some John Wayne types who go “yeah!! Look at that!” But to me it just brings home how brutal and terrible war is, and it should be used ONLY as an emergency, when every other avenue has failed. It’s the overpowering contrast between someone getting a leg blown off in a foxhole and the sheltered ivory tower powerbrokers who sent him there.
Thanks for the recommendation about this show. If it depicts the war as something brutal and not something glorious, maybe it will get some folks to think twice about jerking their knees in support of Bush and his flawed foreign policy. Where are the offices of the Project for the New American Century? Maybe people will get fired up enough to storm the office... hee hee hee! Anyway, I will definitely check out the show.
Snave: That show is really intense. It’s really graphic and horrifying — doesn’t glorify war or anything like that. (Not to me, anyway.) It sure shows the contrast between people who plan a war and the people who fight in it and come home dead or with limbs missing. That PNAC group — that’s who should be doing the fighting and dying over there; they’re the ones who wanted this war and are benefiting from it.
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