Military Intelligence and You!

Cinequest 2007
San Jose, CA

Cleverly combining new footage with vintage WWII training and dramatic films (including scenes with Alan Ladd, William Holden, and Elisha Cook Jr.) this send-up deftly skewers that era's military stereotypes and cliches, while at the same time getting in some not so subtle digs against the current administration's own empty platitudes and arrogance.

Director Dale Kutzera; Producers Greg Reeves, P. James Keitel, Dale Kutzera; Executive Producer Dale Kutzera; Screenwriter Dale Kutzera; Cinematographer Mark Parry; Editor Joseph Butler; Cast Patrick Muldoon, Elizabeth Bennet, Mackenzie Astin, John Rixey Moore, Eric Jungmann; 80min; United States.

What a great way to close out my Cinequest experience! This sly satire provided a lot of laughs. From the opening statement of "declassification", this movie had the audience eating off its standard military-issue spoon. Set up as a "training" film, the film proports to teach one how to differentiate the "enemy" from "merely annoying foreigners"; how to be a team player, whether in the war room or on the field; and what *not* to say while undergoing a Nazi interrogation (with the caveat that they will most likely *not* be offering you tea and cigarettes as depicted, but most likely breaking your fingers one by one).

By setting the film in an earlier age, we get to witness a time when men were real men, women were real women, and Nazis were... well... really, really bad (but spoke with polite British English accents). Ah, how innocent people were then, and how very earnest. That they would actually deem it appropriate to push forward and attack two cities, only one of which may be the true military target, without any evidence to the contrary... As Major Nick Reed states regretfully, "I'm sorry I couldn't manufacture any [evidence] for you, Sir." Ah, the self-righteous justification! Nick again: "I'm sure the Nazis wouldn't be standing around making these moral deliberations!" Surely this doesn't bear any resemblance to any modern 21st century war? Certainly not!

And the irony doesn't stop there. The film dips into the romantic front, asking the age-old question, "Why does the girl always go for the bad boy instead of the solid, dependable guy right in front of her?"

And you find out, finally, what war takes from a man, how it takes that warm, cuddly part of him and leaves him an empty shell, sticking that part in an old shoe box, stuffing it in a closet, back behind layers of old suits, or perhaps up on the second shelf, where you have to get a step ladder to reach it.

And one of my favorite lines, said by the General: "I'm still hoping for a summer push into Russia." (Come on! Read your history books, man! This is funny!)

The director and producers were on hand after the show. They said they recently played the movie at a filmfest in Texas and didn't get near as many laughs. I wonder why...

So I say-- Run!-- Don't walk-- to your nearest filmfest, and find this film. This one is American made, so it may be on the festival circuit for awhile. They even have their own website, so check it out:
http://www.militaryintelligenceandyou.com/index.html


Current mood: Amused
Current music: The Charlie Brown Suite