"CATCH-22" - THE FILM

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 but 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.