Red Tails

I watched Redtails on DVD last night.  It's a WWII movie about the African American 332nd fighter group.  I've been looking forward to this for a while, a WWII fighter movie produced by George Lucas.  I was expecting a powerful human interest story coupled with some gung-ho fighter action.

This isn't what I got.  I expect these Black fighter pilots struggled really hard and were treated badly by their white counterparts.  This isn't how the film portrayed it at all.  It was all very light hearted, the closest it came to drama was one of the squadron walking into an Officer's club.  All the white officers turn around and look scandalised he's there.  One says "This is for Officer's only," the pilot replies, "I am an Officer."  The white officer clarifies, "A white's only Officer's club."

The pilot walks away before turning and running back in to hit one of the white officer's.  He wasn't punished for this.

The same pilot dates a white Italian girl.  They have an idealic relationship without any conflict.  This is Italy in 1944.  Musolini's Fascists have only just been removed from power.  Now I'm sure any survivors would be keeping their heads down, but still, I'd expect some anger to surface over a young woman dating a black American fighter pilot.

The fighter group are tasked with guarding bombers on attacks against Germany.  The bombers have been struggling from their fighter escorts being drawn away by decoys before the German fighters attack.  At first the bombers are worried about being defended by black fighter pilots.  When the German decoys sweep in, the Redtails stay with the bombers.  I expected the bomber pilots to think the Redtails were cowards, but they were just glad they did their jobs.  The Germans main force attacks and the Redtails save the bombers.  It's at this point the Redtails should have been accepted not earlier.  The writers/director just left the drama (truth) at home.

It was the same in battles.  At the end of the film, they tell us 66 pilots lost their lives in the 332nd fighter group.  During the entire film we see two pilots die.  I just did not feel these men were walking round with a life expectancy of only months.

All in all, Red Tails was an OK film.  A war film worthy of a lazy Sunday afternoon, not one that showed what the men who signed up to the Tuskagee program actually had to go through.