// War Literature

I applaud you, Stanley Kubrick!

What an excellent portrayal of war without the “war” part. What we see in this movie is more than just World War I battle scenes – the French fighting the German along 500 miles of trenches. We go beyond that. We dig deep into the nitty-gritty of human behavior; of man’s greatest desires and greatest fears, and his means of achieving those desires and avoiding those fears. This story is about many paths to glory in which men of different military rank advance themselves up the string of command by any means possible. This never-ending lust for self-advancement brings devastating results: men’s lives were at stake, people’s reputations on the line, and the notions of bureaucracy and the justice system seemed to shake at their foundations.

Most importantly, men’s lives were at stake. Most important – to Colonel Dax maybe, but not to General Mireau and Broulard. When Broulard suggested Mireau send his men to Ant Hill, Mireau declined at first, but with little persuasion decided that his men had it in them to do it. What persuaded him was the mention of a promotion. Ant Hill would devour 60% of their men, but that didn’t matter because the objective was to defeat the enemy.

The generals look at their soldiers as tools instead of individuals. It’s easy for them to command when they’re not on the battlefield day-in and day-out fighting for their lives! What is so audacious about two old farts sitting in their throwns of gold in a palatial chateau? And then they have the nerve to charge two privates and a corporal for “cowardice in the face of the enemy” because they didn’t advance to Ant Hill when it was virtually and humanly impossible to do so? All for status and reputation. Sickening.

A perfect example of hypocrisy: Mireau says to Dax that he never got in the habit of sitting because he likes to be on the move. He says, ” I can’t understand these arm-chair officers. Fellas trying to fight a war behind a desk, waving papers at the enemy, worrying about whether a mouse is gonna run up their pant leg.” Who is Mireau to talk? But then Dax replies honestly, “If I had a choice between mice and Mausers, I think I’d take the mice every time.”

What is cowardly and what is brave? Mireau speaks of bravery and patriotism, but he is a coward in all aspects. True bravery would be owning up to your mistakes instead of purposelessly convicting 3 men of a crime and killing them ruthlessly. The trial was a frustrating scene. All evidence and information in the men’s favor was denied because it didn’t pertain specifically to the case at hand. This exemplifies how our legal systems seem to run like clockwork, but what may seem just can turn into something unjust and unfair.

I could barely watch the prison scene. You know you only have a few hours to live. How many? You don’t know. All that’s left is to make circles around the prison cell while you envision your whole life and the future that never will be. I thought of what O’Brien said about death, how the closer you are to death the more real life seems and the more you appreciate it. You notice the little things. Corporal Paris observed a cockroach: “Tomorrow morning I’ll be dead and he’ll be alive. It will have more contact with my wife and children than I will. I’ll be nothing and it’ll be alive.” Private Ferol kills the cockroach and says, “Now you’ve got the edge on him.”

Pride, glory, and personal gain are all good things when taken in small doses. General Mireau was too power-hungry to see the dividing line. If he’d only remembered that “patriotism…is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”