Praise the plot ... but pass the facts

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Saturday evening, after a special early screening of "Pearl Harbor" for about 200 survivors of the attack, one of the veterans turned to face the crowded theater to ask what the men thought.

Some of them applauded.

But some of them booed.

For many who fought the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941, nothing short of a perfect account of the events of the bloody battle will do. Others know not to look too closely at Disney's three-hour, $140 million film, which seamlessly blends fact and fiction.

"I would not see it again," said Ed Chappell, national president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "As for the actual history of it, there are a lot of things we could pick apart on it."

Disney held its official premiere of the movie Monday night with a lavish party aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

Gala honored survivors

The 2,000-person guest list included survivors of the attack, who were brought on stage and honored by the audience. Afterward, they were treated to a fireworks display over Pearl Harbor.

"If the movie would have been as good as the fireworks, they would have had an outstanding movie," said Ray Emory, a Pearl Harbor survivor and the association's historian. "There are things in that movie that didn't happen. There are things that are overkill. There were too many bodies floating in the water. There were too many small explosions and there should have been fewer bigger explosions, too."

But the most important thing to remember about "Pearl Harbor," Emory said, is the plot.

"It's a love story," he said.

"History-wise, it's a flop."

"Pearl Harbor" focuses on two fighter pilots, played by Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett, and their love for the same Navy nurse, played by Kate Beckinsale.

Although their actions in the movie are drawn from those of real pilots flying on Dec. 7, 1941, the characters are fictional.

American valor during the attack is among the U.S. Navy's most honored memories and the USS Arizona Memorial one of the nation's most hallowed shrines. Nothing about that morning is ever trivialized or taken for granted.

Veteran Everett Hyland said he liked the movie.

"You can nit-pick if you want but I'm not a nit-picker," he said. "It is a movie, and it is terrific entertainment."

Artistic 'privileges'

Disney took "certain privileges" and changed things, he said.

"But that is fine," Hyland said. "It is not a documentary."

Daniel Martinez, National Park Service historian at the USS Arizona Memorial, was among those who gave technical advice to Disney before and during filming last year at Ford Island.

He said there were a number of historical inaccuracies in the film, but moviegoers shouldn't be upset.

"I think the movie is a series of metaphors woven together," he said. "They are based loosely on incidents that really occurred."

Before filming, Martinez met with Disney officials. He said he came away from that meeting disappointed at what the film would become and felt they planned "to create the facts as they needed to tell their story."

But that was being selfish, Martinez said.

"The key to enjoying movies is suspending disbelief," he said. "You need to go in there and understand someone is telling you a story. Especially historians. You have to release yourself, and that will be hard for some of them."

Opportunity to clear it up

The blend of fact and fiction will help historians tell the real story. The movie, if it does well, will give them an opportunity they would not have had.

"Hollywood rarely gets it all right," Martinez said. "They have to have a little artistic license. And holding their feet to the fire for every film that comes out is a bit pious."

Among the errors that Martinez spotted:

• The location of "Battleship Row," which was the focus of much of the attack, is depicted too far south along Ford Island.

• Scenes showed U.S. planes engaged in aerial dogfights over Pearl Harbor and weaving in and around buildings, but it never happened.

At times, planes from both countries thunder between berthed ships, something Martinez had warned them could never have happened because the planes would be torn apart. But after speaking with director Michael Bay and seeing the movie, he understands Bay's vision.

"He wanted to have that technique and he had his heart set on it," Martinez said. "And it works. It takes you through Battleship Row."

The attack, which occupies more than 40 minutes of screen time, is loud, chaotic and filled with enormous explosions.

When Warren Verhoff saw the movie on Saturday, the sights and sounds of the battle sent him back in time.

"I thought they did a fine job of the attack and why it came about that the Japanese attacked," he said.

That message is important to younger Americans.

"They have lost track of Pearl Harbor," Verhoff said. "What they don't realize is the whole world changed in that one day. I think this will help get that across. That is the part I like."