A Pearl of A Movie

The 2001 release of the movie Pearl Harbor is not just another war movie. It goes into the lives of some of the people who were there and focuses on how war is not just the big picture of countries fighting each other, but on how it affects individuals in drastic ways.

It begins with Rafe and Danny, two friends who are about 8 or 9 years old, playing in the fields and in a crop dusting plane. They somehow manage to get it to fly and that really inspires them to become pilots. The grown up boys are played Ben Affleck (Rafe) and Josh Hartnett (Danny). Danny is the protector since Rafe has dyslexia and grew up with less than understanding parents.

When they are undergoing their medical exams for admission to the army, Rafe stumbles over the letters on the eye chart. A very sweet and pretty nurse named Evelyn (Kate Beckinsdale) passes him although she really should not have. After a comedy of errors where she breaks his nose, he and his unit meet up with her and her nursing unit for nights out on the town.

Just as Evelyn is falling for Rafe, he tells her that he is shipping out for England since he volunteered to help fight the Germans in the Eagle Division. She doesn’t understand why he would risk his life since the United States is not yet involved in World War II and he would be risking his life. They vow to wait for each other and they do write many letters to each other, until he is shot down and presumed dead.

At the same time, both Evelyn’s unit and Danny’s unit are shipped to Pearl Harbor where thousands of other American military men and women are stationed. Since this country is not involved in the war yet, it is a constant party here, and the nurses mainly deal with such things as sunburn and black eyes received from boxing bouts. Danny and Evelyn turn to each other after Rafe’s death, fall in love with each other, and sleep together.

Evelyn finds out that she is pregnant just as Rafe shows up at Pearl Harbor. He was shot down, but somehow survived and was not able to get word out that he would be coming home. This, coincidentally, is the day before the Pearl Harbor attack and he finds out about Danny and Evelyn, causing quite a strain on his friendship with his oldest friend.

While all of this is going on in Hawaii, President Roosevelt and his team are trying to decode Japanese intelligence and monitor their every move. The Japanese and the United States are involved in peace talks, but Roosevelt and his men know that something is imminent, although they cannot quite figure out when or where there will be an attack

The morning of December 7, 1941 started out as a bright and sunny morning, when all of a sudden, there was an explosion, then another, and another and another. From this point in the movie until the end, have some tissues ready. The sheer amount of violence, destruction and death is just immense. Some of these scenes are very gory and the actors portray the scenes well.

Evelyn and the other nurses spring into action trying to help as many people as they can, but they are really overwhelmed. She is put in charge of triage, and using lipstick, she marks those who are doomed to die and those who are sent inside for treatment.

Another character in the movie is played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. He is a cook and assistant to the Captain on the ship The Arizona. He joined the military to make a difference and has a chip on his shoulder since he is "just a cook." During the attack he gets to one of the guns and begins to successfully shoot down Japanese planes. Dorie Miller, the character he plays, actually did this during the Pearl Harbor attack.

Rafe and Danny get some other pilots together and find some fighter planes that are usable. In the midst of all of the destruction and chaos, these men who just the night before were bitter enemies, joined forces to fight off a common enemy. It was because of this heroic effort to defend their country, they were asked to join the secret mission put together by Doolittle (Alec Baldwin).

As they are packing to leave, Evelyn tells Rafe that she is pregnant with Danny’s child and asks him not to tell him. He keeps his word until they are shot down in enemy territory as part of the Doolittle mission, and Danny is about to die.

Rafe returns safely to Evelyn and they live “happily ever after” raising their son, whom, of course, they name Danny.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants to know what happened at Pearl Harbor. I am glad that I was able to experience it in a theater setting rather than at home on videotape. However, there was too much destruction and violence for me to see it again.

The fact that we all knew it was coming and just on the edge of our seats waiting for the first torpedo to strike made me very nervous. The two waves of the Japanese attack took over an hour and although the movie did not spend that much time showing it, a good portion of time was devoted to the destruction. It was a little hard to watch at times but any less detail, and the movie would not have had the same impact.

I do not have any personal connection to what happened that day in 1941, and I can only imagine how emotional I would
have been had I actually known somebody who experienced Pearl Harbor's attack firsthand.