thedrifter
07-11-08, 07:01 AM
TELEVISION
In the Line of Fire
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ
July 11, 2008; Page W9C
In his final season before us, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) -- never one for displays of high spirits -- is more reserved and grim than ever. In this, as all else about these last chapters of "Foyle's War" ("Masterpiece Mystery!," Sundays, 9-10:30 p.m. EDT on PBS, check local listings), the D.C.S. -- chief law officer in the seaside town of Hastings -- speaks for the exhaustion of an England at war, something this consistently captivating series has done since it first aired here in 2003. If anything, its invariably dark tone has become still darker with the war's end in sight.
Even in the final episodes, with V-E Day at hand and the German surrender announced, Foyle goes about as ever, stricken by the knowledge of all the war has cost, the lives taken by the death camps -- the footage is now available in movie theaters. He's not about to join any celebrations, whatever the younger, merrier crowd of police officers and other townspeople may want to do.
He has, furthermore, crimes to solve, among them one having to do with haunting memories of the catastrophe that caused the death of 749 American troops training for the D-Day landing in exercises at Slapton Sands off the coast of Devon. Crossed communications and misconceived plans had put the trapped Americans in the sights of patrolling German boats, which proceeded to mow them down -- an event whose reporting the Allied military at the time had ordered suppressed, given the requirements of D-Day secrecy and morale. In "Foyle's War" the focus on this piece of history concerns that cover-up.
There's a good deal of this sort of focus in this season's three episodes -- the cold-eyed look at Allied war tactics; forays into moral questions, for instance about the bombing of German cities -- in addition to fancy plotting. That last is no innovation. Like so many series in the "Mystery!" lineup, "Foyle's War" has invariably delivered the usual thickets of plot convolutions, and red herrings flaunted shamelessly -- all of it elevated by the great unifying drama of England at war.
What is new, this time around, is the frequency of the moral questions the scripts raise, briefly -- a quick dip here, another there. With them the drama seems infused, suddenly, with important complexity, with great questions of war, peace, civilian casualties.
Nothing of the kind is going on here, of course -- the dips remain dips, though from the sound of things in episode one, in which clergymen convene to argue that the bombing raids over German cities are reprehensible, it all seems to portend a lot more. Here's a visiting bishop adamant in his view that, instead of demanding unconditional surrender, the Allies should offer an outstretched hand of forgiveness and reconciliation. He's adamant for a while, that is. In the rapidly changing world of "Foyle's War," the hardest of moral positions can give way -- especially when those positions are impossibly out of keeping with the tone of the series, not to mention that of its hero. For all his thoughtfulness and ethical concern, Foyle knows there's a war to be won absolutely, and he knows why.
The opening episode takes up another subject that's all the rage now -- the mentally shattered veteran plagued by guilt. (Episode two introduces another mentally disturbed returning soldier, this one a POW.) The first vet took part in some of the famous bombing raids over Germany and now has to see a priest about it. Wait till you meet him. And better yet, the priest.
Holding all of this together, with even more than his usual command -- that capacity to exude the most profound of emotions in a glancing look, a toneless aside -- is Mr. Kitchen. Detective chief inspectors come and go, but we will not see the likes of his Foyle again.
* * *
"Generation Kill," a seven-part miniseries (Sundays, 9-10:15 p.m. EDT on HBO), follows the Marines of the First Reconnaissance Battalion, which led the drive into Iraq. Based on the reporting of embedded journalist Evan Wright, who rode with Bravo Company's Second Platoon, it's a work exceptional for its up-close view of these Marines (played by actors) and the action on the road to Baghdad.
Above all, we see and feel the weight of the Americans' first encounters with Iraqi civilians. These are troops appalled -- some more than others -- when they inadvertently kill Iraqi civilians. They're fiercely determined to save the life of an Iraqi child shot in the stomach. Still, they're combatants -- prepared to shoot at any hint of danger. They know that the worst can happen at any moment, to them and to the civilians looking so beseechingly at them as liberators.
Be advised: It's best to get quickly past the confused and shapeless first episode and on to the rest, where the characters become individualized.
More than half these troops, Mr. Wright has noted in his book, came from broken homes or were raised by absentee parents. The film's dialogue, we're assured -- it's not a heartening thought -- accurately represents the speech of these Marines, raised on hip-hop, Marilyn Manson and Jerry Springer. Team leader Sgt. Brad Colbert (Alexander Skarsgard), age 28, and called "The Iceman" -- a tribute to his calm -- likes Barry Manilow and solitude, tastes not widely shared in the platoon. To meet these Marines on the road to Baghdad -- that first episode notwithstanding -- is to end up enlisted for the full journey.
Ellie
In the Line of Fire
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ
July 11, 2008; Page W9C
In his final season before us, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) -- never one for displays of high spirits -- is more reserved and grim than ever. In this, as all else about these last chapters of "Foyle's War" ("Masterpiece Mystery!," Sundays, 9-10:30 p.m. EDT on PBS, check local listings), the D.C.S. -- chief law officer in the seaside town of Hastings -- speaks for the exhaustion of an England at war, something this consistently captivating series has done since it first aired here in 2003. If anything, its invariably dark tone has become still darker with the war's end in sight.
Even in the final episodes, with V-E Day at hand and the German surrender announced, Foyle goes about as ever, stricken by the knowledge of all the war has cost, the lives taken by the death camps -- the footage is now available in movie theaters. He's not about to join any celebrations, whatever the younger, merrier crowd of police officers and other townspeople may want to do.
He has, furthermore, crimes to solve, among them one having to do with haunting memories of the catastrophe that caused the death of 749 American troops training for the D-Day landing in exercises at Slapton Sands off the coast of Devon. Crossed communications and misconceived plans had put the trapped Americans in the sights of patrolling German boats, which proceeded to mow them down -- an event whose reporting the Allied military at the time had ordered suppressed, given the requirements of D-Day secrecy and morale. In "Foyle's War" the focus on this piece of history concerns that cover-up.
There's a good deal of this sort of focus in this season's three episodes -- the cold-eyed look at Allied war tactics; forays into moral questions, for instance about the bombing of German cities -- in addition to fancy plotting. That last is no innovation. Like so many series in the "Mystery!" lineup, "Foyle's War" has invariably delivered the usual thickets of plot convolutions, and red herrings flaunted shamelessly -- all of it elevated by the great unifying drama of England at war.
What is new, this time around, is the frequency of the moral questions the scripts raise, briefly -- a quick dip here, another there. With them the drama seems infused, suddenly, with important complexity, with great questions of war, peace, civilian casualties.
Nothing of the kind is going on here, of course -- the dips remain dips, though from the sound of things in episode one, in which clergymen convene to argue that the bombing raids over German cities are reprehensible, it all seems to portend a lot more. Here's a visiting bishop adamant in his view that, instead of demanding unconditional surrender, the Allies should offer an outstretched hand of forgiveness and reconciliation. He's adamant for a while, that is. In the rapidly changing world of "Foyle's War," the hardest of moral positions can give way -- especially when those positions are impossibly out of keeping with the tone of the series, not to mention that of its hero. For all his thoughtfulness and ethical concern, Foyle knows there's a war to be won absolutely, and he knows why.
The opening episode takes up another subject that's all the rage now -- the mentally shattered veteran plagued by guilt. (Episode two introduces another mentally disturbed returning soldier, this one a POW.) The first vet took part in some of the famous bombing raids over Germany and now has to see a priest about it. Wait till you meet him. And better yet, the priest.
Holding all of this together, with even more than his usual command -- that capacity to exude the most profound of emotions in a glancing look, a toneless aside -- is Mr. Kitchen. Detective chief inspectors come and go, but we will not see the likes of his Foyle again.
* * *
"Generation Kill," a seven-part miniseries (Sundays, 9-10:15 p.m. EDT on HBO), follows the Marines of the First Reconnaissance Battalion, which led the drive into Iraq. Based on the reporting of embedded journalist Evan Wright, who rode with Bravo Company's Second Platoon, it's a work exceptional for its up-close view of these Marines (played by actors) and the action on the road to Baghdad.
Above all, we see and feel the weight of the Americans' first encounters with Iraqi civilians. These are troops appalled -- some more than others -- when they inadvertently kill Iraqi civilians. They're fiercely determined to save the life of an Iraqi child shot in the stomach. Still, they're combatants -- prepared to shoot at any hint of danger. They know that the worst can happen at any moment, to them and to the civilians looking so beseechingly at them as liberators.
Be advised: It's best to get quickly past the confused and shapeless first episode and on to the rest, where the characters become individualized.
More than half these troops, Mr. Wright has noted in his book, came from broken homes or were raised by absentee parents. The film's dialogue, we're assured -- it's not a heartening thought -- accurately represents the speech of these Marines, raised on hip-hop, Marilyn Manson and Jerry Springer. Team leader Sgt. Brad Colbert (Alexander Skarsgard), age 28, and called "The Iceman" -- a tribute to his calm -- likes Barry Manilow and solitude, tastes not widely shared in the platoon. To meet these Marines on the road to Baghdad -- that first episode notwithstanding -- is to end up enlisted for the full journey.
Ellie