a Catch-22-ish scene from Deathwatch

[intertribal]

Shakespeare: Private First Class Shakespeare falling in for inspection, sir!
Fairweather: Corporal Fairweather falling in for inspection, sir!
Captain Jennings: Very good.  Hmm.  Doesn't do to let standards slip, Corporal, you have a responsibility to these young men.
Fairweather: Yes, sir.
Quinn [unseen]: AAAHHHHH!
Captain Jennings: What is that god awful racket?
Quinn: AAAHHHHH!
Shakespeare: That's Private Quinn, sir.
Captain Jennings: Why is he not here for inspection?  Sergeant!  Why is Private Quinn not here for inspection?
Sergeant Tate: ...
Quinn: RRAAAHHHH...
Captain Jennings: Right.  Well done, men, you fall out.  I'm gonna go have a word with Private Quinn.
Fairweather: Please don't do that, sir.
Shakespeare: He'll kill you, sir!
Quinn: AAAAAHHHH...
Captain Jennings [incredulous]: I'm an officer!

Good movie about the machine of war that I think Virilio would approve of, personified by a deep muddy trench filled with soldier-skewering barbed wire (so that's where Silent Hill got it from), soldier-eating mud, and suspicious red mist that seems too sentient to be gas.  Also nicely absurd, and Charlie Shakespeare's character reminded me very strongly of my novel's protagonist, so that was fun to sort of "see him in action," so to speak, in an alternate universe where he's a British soldier in WWII.

Comments

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Ha! I'm so glad you finally got to see this. Yes, crazy Quinn, with his sheepskin vest and his scalp collection. There are too few things set during WWI in general, I believe.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

It came up on Watch Instantly and I was like, hey, handful_ofdust talked about this once, didn't she? (I believe The Keep is also on there) I think it's even more appropriate that Quinn was "played by" Gollum. Oh God, this was World War I, wasn't it? Fail on my part. That explains why they felt it was okay to cast a German as a sympathetic character.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

If you want a good WWII horror movie, try The Bunker. If you're up for just anything WWII, The Keep will probably do.;)