Well crafted movies

Last night I went to see Fury.

Starring Brad Pitt and a really rather good cast (Jason Isaacs with a New York accent, Shia LaBoeuf as good as I've seen him), it was an excellent movie. Well crafted, well designed, well made. But I simply didn't like it.

I wonder if other people are like me - if I'm reading a book, it really helps if I can like the main character, or even a close-to-main character. If I don't like someone who goes through the book with me, I find myself losing interest in reading the story. In fact, unable to find anything redeeming in any of the characters of A Picture of Dorian Grey, I gave up, discouraged by the nastiness of people. Well, the people in the book, anyway.

But let's get back to the movie. As I said, it was well made, but since I'd found it difficult to feel any sympathy for the crew of the Fury (it's a tank), I was unable to care about their fate. I felt more sympathy for the people with whom they interacted in their spree across WWII-torn Germany. The thing is, I'm pretty sure the film accurately depicted how WWII worked out for many of the people involved. 

It was brutal - war IS brutal. There's no two ways about it - it's a kill or be killed situation. And so spree is completely the wrong word to use about their journey. Spree seems to indicate that some joy, or even (I'm sorry) glee has been obtained during the expedition, where it's clear that these men are simply doing what they feel to be their duty. Their duty with no mercy. 

By the time we join the crew, the concept of mercy is completely alien to them, which is probably why I couldn't actually like any of them. And yet, as the movie progressed, I found myself feeling a very small amount of sympathy for these men. Their loss of humanity was part of them, their total commitment to their team the only fellow feelings they allowed themselves. Their mantra was almost "the only good German is a dead German".

Visually, Fury is a delight. Each shot is well set up - it's not sloppy. The colours are desaturated, war grey. The final shot, as the camera pulls up above the tank, brings realisation of exactly how the last battle went. It was a truly stunning parting image!

While I may not have liked this film, like the Tate Modern, I did NOT leave the theatre unmoved. No candy-floss movie this one, to disappear from my mind as I left the cinema, leaving thoughts only of food and Facebook. Oh no, this movie will stick with me.