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TV Review: Over There August 14, 2005 |
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The best argument on the liberal side made by Steven Bocho’s disturbing FX drama “Over There” is that war is hell, always has been, always will be, and we have little right sending 21-year-old kids to face that hell. The best argument the show makes on the conservative side has to do with that old saw, patriotism, the grand daddy of all battle cries, one that tries to justify American involvement in Iraq, a necessary counterargument to the liberal side of the equation. And who, besides those with convictions strong enough to look past the guilt and shame factor embedded in the conservative argument, has the right mind to knock patriotism, and the noble cause of rebuilding, brick by mortar-shelled brick, a country some would sooner see left to rot, than continue this deadly and dangerous mission? Whether the show leans more to the right, or more to the left, is up for grabs three episodes into the premier season, and anybody who has argued either side is probably reaching deeper into his own ideologies than what’s actually presented on the screen, but as far as cautionary, realistic portrayals of a complex and gritty situation, filled with anger, racism, nobility, and confusion, the drama is first rate, as is usually the case with FX, second only to HBO in quality cable original programming. If you’re looking for easy answers, go read an online op-ed column (remember to be fair and read two, one from both sides), but for hard hitting, brutal, and honest war stories, tinged with blood and gore, than the show should be compelling TV for you to divulge and discuss, in hopefully equal lights. To say that “Over There” is a difficult hour of television is an understatement; it’s a grueling exercise in morality within the boundaries of modern day war and all its shifting guerilla tactics and psychological mind blocks. If the show is less satire than Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”, but more down to earth than “Paths of Glory” (one of the few WWI films that seems to fully represent the ironies between George M. Cohan’s rousing musical number and the American perception of a “glorious” war), it’s because the Iraq war is presenting the American public with a situation entirely different and new from the two World Wars and Vietnam (not counting, but not forgetting either, Korea and the first Gulf War), major skirmishes that have thoroughly been presented in the media every which way possible, for comedy, tragedy, satire, and realism, where this new war is fresh for interpretation. What we get is a show about young 20 somethings, many away from their loved ones for the first time, grappling with the realities of fighting an enemy that is constantly shifting, improvising, and creating confusion and mass hysteria with their renegade tactics and willingness to die for their religious cause. “An enemy who’s not afraid to die,” worries one of the handful of personalities the show documents each week, in Iraq and back home, “Jesus, how do you fight that?” Like much about this war, the answer to that question is uncertain, which may be in itself a clue to why we’re still fighting, but don’t expect “Over There” to spell it out in Black and White, that’s up to you, your own ideology, and your own understandings of a difficult and ultimately tragic 21st century war. “Over There” airs Wednesdays at 10 on FX. by Adam Suraf
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