Midway, mini movie review

 

Rating: B+

Even though I've grown up watching World War II documentaries, I don't know much about what happened in the Pacific during this war.  It's a shame, as I have a Great-grandfather who served in the Navy during both World Wars, and my Grandpa R's brother was a POW under the Japanese.  I don't know much about either.  When my Dad was a Marine he served on the USS Midway aircraft cruiser, named to honor the battle. He wanted to fly planes, but bad eyesight is a family thing, so when he was on the Midway he ate in this room where he could listen to the planes land.  One day he had to do something and missed his routine lunch and an airplane crash, spreading fire in the room where he ate.  His life was saved that day, and that's what I think of whenever I hear "Midway."

As for the movie, Midway shows the escalating conflict between the US and Japan, the tensions, attack on Pearl Harbor, and then the subsequent attacks in the Pacific and beyond.  If you know history, you know how this story goes.

So much historical focus is on mainland Europe and England during this time.  Conflict with Germany and Italy. The holocaust. D-Day. The air raids in London and elsewhere.  The Narnia kids getting sent to the countryside (fiction, but still showing an aspect of the times).  Just that part of the war seems so overwhelmingly massive.  Then throw in the Pacific, Japan, China, and then you realize why this really was a World War.  And it's amazing humanity survived.  We forget.

I've read some reviews that says the dialogue is cheesy and whatnot, but I don't mind it.  As tragic as this time was, I still love the outfits.  The music!  The start of swing dance.  It was a time of rationing. Sacrifice. Human vigor and determination.

There's a lot of characters.  People come and go.  It's war.  And there are moving parts everywhere changing, contributing.  Portraying this one aspect of WWII is a huge undertaking, and yet, even with everything going on, it's easy to follow along and get involved with some of the characters.  And what's nice about this movie is that it focuses on so many real people who actually fought and served. 

War is awful, yes, but we shouldn't forget the past. Learn from the mistakes. Grow from the strength of others. Understand. The battle of Midway was only 77 years ago.  It hasn't even been a century!  And yet I wonder what my Great-grandfather and Great-uncle would think of the fact that my siblings and I love visiting Tokyo and are learning Japanese.  They would think it unbelievable!!

We can't forget.

And it was nice that in the showing I attended there were so many ages.  I thought I was going to be the youngest, but there were high-schoolers there as well.  And everyone in the theater was getting into it, holding their breath at times.  And at the end there was some clapping.  I found myself quite emotional and glad to become more fully aware of this time in history.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of war violence and related images, language and smoking.