A couple of weeks ago, I watched the
film
Catch-22. Like
Mash, another anti-war movie I watched again recently, it was released
during during the Vietnam war, but the story is set in Italy during
World War II. The futility of war is once again exposed, though WWII is
remembered as the "good war".
Catch-22 does not wear as well as
Mash. In the beginning, laughs are blended with violence and
absurdity, but later in the film, the mood grows darker until the laughs
all but later in the film, the mood grows darker until the laughs all b
ut
disappear, and there is little respite from violence, futility, and
hopelessness. Still, throughout the the movie, in the most somber
scenes, irony occasionally breaks through, and the names of the some of the
characters are always good for a smile.
Thank you, Joseph Heller.
I've heard others say that the film does not at all do justice the book,
but, since I read the book so long ago, and my memory is dim, I can't
say.
Image from Wikipedia.
I would agree that the farther into the movie you get the more it seems to lose its way. But then "Catch-22" is a hard story to bring to the screen. In the end I guess my judgement is shown this way - I own the book but not the movie.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly. Perhaps it was the best that could be done to transfer the book to the screen. I will read it again soon after a very long time.
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