From Here to Eternity

From Here to Eternity (1953)
Director: Fred Zinnemann

This is exactly what I am talking about. This film gets it right. The entire film is about people. It has characters and it has action; what make the film really work is that so much time is spent on the characters that by the time we get to the action we really care about the outcome. We know who these guys are, what they are fighting for and how much the have to loose. This is what Pearl Harbor tried to do but failed to achieve.

This film isn’t a feel-good picture. Apparently at the time it was released it was very groundbreaking in terms of showing the darker side of the army. The characters in this film all have problems. They aren’t perfect. They have flaws, they make mistakes, and they suffer for them. It makes the film very real. It isn't the storybook love story with all the loose ends tied up nicely at the end of two hours.

The story revolves around Robert E. Lee Pruitt who joins the army to be a bugler but they just want him to be a boxer. Pruitt won’t box because he put his best friend in a coma a while back and he is still haunted. The army is not taking no for an answer. They are determined to get him to compete in the boxing championships at all costs. Then there is Sgt. Warden who is having an affair with the commanding officers wife (this leads to one of the most famous scenes ever of the couple kissing on the beach as the waves wash over them). There are also a couple subplots in this movie involving actors Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed.

The writing in this film is just great. All the characters have backstories. There are no cardboard characters in this movie; they all have strengths and weaknesses, wants and needs. Apparently as edgy as this film was for its time, it would have been much more so if Fred Zinnemann had been allowed to have his way. It makes you wonder what kind of films would be made if great directors were allowed to really put their visions on film regardless of how dark they might be.

My Rating: 5 out of 5