Quiz: Who Am I?

[D-Day_Dodger]

Sometimes the truth is so strange that even fiction will not accept it, and this is especially true with war stories. Here is one example from Farley Mowat's book "The Regiment". This book is a non-fiction account of the author's experiences with a Candian regiment in the Italian campaign. In one instance he relates how his unit was strafed by a German fighter and from his vantage point he could see seven or eight men hiding behind a single tree. Each man was standing behind the man in front and as the fighter circled the man who was up next to the tree, oblivious of the others behind him, would move slowly around the tree, keeping it between him and the fighter. Of course, as he moved the men behind him tried to conform to his movements creating the impression of a human snake.
If a director of a war movie filmed something like that, the audience would say that's too far fetched to be believed. It's more the kind of thing that you might see in "Catch 22", but not in "Saving Private Ryan". I think to make a good war movie the producer/director have to find a nice middle ground between cliche and outrageous. They should try and stretch the viewer's imagination without crossing the line into the bizarre, which was what "300" did. Movie making is equal parts story telling and illusion. If either is lacking the other has to compensate or the movie suffers.
When I speak of illusion I'm basically referring to the filmmaker's ability to create (or recreate)the environment in which the story is acted out. In this respect movies like "Platoon" and "Saving Private Ryan" excell. Historical accuracy is the bottom line for a war movie and in the past achieving that was expensive and not always possible. Today, a simple trip to Wikipedia will give anyone the basic facts about almost any historical event you care to mention and today's computer graphics can make even the most epic of battles seem possible to translate to film. "Flags of Our Fathers" and the episode of "Band of Brothers" that has the paratroopers dropping on D-Day are just two examples of what is possible for a guy(s) with a mouse and a keyboard to accomplish.
As for the storytelling side of things, a good story well acted can make up for having a low budget, see "Go Tell the Spartans" with Burt Lancaster (he's great). On the other hand, despite all the time and money spent on making "Gods and Generals" historically accurate it bombed because the story failed to capture or keep the audience's attention (And unfortunately, because of the poor results at the box office for "Gods and Generals", the third film in the trilogy is in limbo until the producer can find someone with deep pockets to finance it).
Speaking of war movies, does anyone know of any good true to life war flicks that are coming out this year? The only one I know about is "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson is planning to do a remake of "The Dam Busters", but I don't know what it's release date is.