The American way
By Sean O Donaile
- Casualties of War Channel 4 Sun
- The 70th Annual Oscars BBC1 Tues
- Prime Time RTE1 Thurs
- Insight UTV Weds
With Bill Clinton and the American world police
drooling at the prospect of bombing Baghdad, it would
do them no harm to reflect on the damage they caused to
themselves and others during the Vietnam war.
Channel 4 is currently showing a host of `Nam movies
on Sunday nights and their latest offering was the
harrowing drama ``Casualties of War'' starring Sean Penn
of Madonna husbandry fame and that Mickey Rooney of the
80s, Michael J. Fox.
The comparisons with the British soldiers in West
Tyrone or in Ardoyne are many, including their complete
lack of understanding of the situation, and the nervous
eyes of the raw recruits at the prospects of an
imminent ``guerrilla'' attack.
Their treatment of the locals was similar and indeed
worse in many situations, only because there were no
Bloody Sunday justice campaigns, CAJs or Sinn Féins to
pull them up. Massacres of civilians was commonplace
and Sean Penn set the tone by kidnapping a villager and
gangraping her with his colleagues ``to keep morale up''.
Penn is the by now cliched `Nam psycho sergeant - ``I'm
the meanest motherfucker in the valley'' - and his
contemptous words would've gone down well at the recent
DUP rally in Portadown - ``they're nothing but slopes
and cockroaches and total destruction is the only
answer''.
``Hatch'' is your average dumbass yankee private who
passes his time sweating, drinking cans, telling silly
jokes and swopping Playboy.
As the unit progress upriver ``looking for gooks'' they
desend into a morass of evil, raping and murdering the
young women and spraying the forest with napalm.
Michael J. Fox, as ever the good guy, refuses to yield
to peer pressure and on reporting the sordid deeds to
his superiors is informed in a Stalker-style inquiry
that ``What happens is the way things are and you best
just relax and forget''.
The reaction of the recruits and their superiors to the
charges are very Lee Cleggish - ``these guys will be out
of the stockade in no time''.
But Hollywood being Hollywood, Micheal J. ensures a
happy ending, with the baddies getting their just
desserts.
Pity it didn't happen like that in real life.
Meanwhile back at the ranch they were busy showering
each other with thank yous as the 70th Oscars were
doled out.
Everyone bar Mr Eastwood got a mention from the
emotional, excited and coke-laden recipients. All the
mammies and daddies got a mention and the next door
neighbours cat, although quote of the night must go to
Robin Williams on receiving his first Oscar, for best
supporting actor - ``When I told my dad that I wanted to
be an actor he said, `Fine, just have a real job as
well, like welding','' which sums up the attitude of
many to the arts.
The show was hosted by the affable Billy Crystal,
complete with a bag load of Terry Wogan jokes and guest
presenters included the ever changeable Madonna.
Titanic was a lot more successful than the ship,
reeling in 11 statues, but questions must be asked
about one film claiming a host of awards year in, year
out.
That was the only Irish connection with the show as
alas ``Dance, Lexie, Dance'' didn't get to step out,
which I'm sure didn't stop them having a few jars on
Monday night in Derry.
For those of us in the real world familiar expectations
of owning a house of our own is quickly becoming
fantasy, not because it's ideologically unsound for
revolutionaries to enter the rat race of consumer
capitalism and consumerism but because of the
spiralling prices, particularly in Dublin, where the
average semi will set you back £100,000.
Prime Time predicted a demand of 30,000 homes a year in
the 26 Counties alone, with couples having to commute
to Dublin from as far away as Mullingar or Dundalk, as
city prices escalate out of all but the fat cats'
reach.
Daithi Downey of Threshhold rightly portrayed the
situation as a social crisis, with the rich getting
richer. House prices have jumped 25% in the last 12
months compared to a 4% rise in the cost of building.
Downey rightly called for state intervention to
eliminate the super profits of a few, central planning
and more equal distribution of wealth.
The much forgotten Tuskar Rock disaster of 1968 was
also raised by Prime Time, when an Aer Lingus jet was
mysteriously downed off the Wexford coast with 70
losses. The murky paws of the British military was and
is suspected of involvment, reinforced by the finding
of British missile fragments near the crash site five
years later.
Sure what's new?
What can one say about the nonsensical one sided
``Raymond Gilmore - I was an RUC agent'' on UTV last
week. The programme was given over to a one sided rant
by the man who ``had a very deep and damaging effect on
the Bogside''(E. Mc Cann), for the sake of a poker
machine - ``his only motive was money'' (defendant).
Amid all the twaddle about being the James Bond of
Derry it was let slip the judges comments of 1984 -
``this man is a habitual liar..completely selfish and
self regarding'' - thus discrediting the entire
programme.
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