Generation Kill (2008). I thought the HBO adaptation of the late Professor Stephen Ambrose’ Band of Brothers book could not be beat for the best TV series ever about war. That’s especially in view of the visually stunning production-wise but otherwise lackluster The Pacific from the same studio last year.
I can eat those words right now – because there was actually another offering from HBO about war that was actually made and released before The Pacific – and this one beats Band of Brothers flat out as the best dramatization of a military conflict I’ve yet seen. In fact, I’ll go so far to even saying it’s a better production than even mainstream films like Saving Private Ryan, an unequal a comparison that might still be.
Generation Kill is adapted from a book of the same name, and written by Evan Wright, an American journalist and writer who was embedded with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the second Iraq war of 2003. His book covers his experience with the troops, and this seven episode mini-series is a marvelous adaption of that source.
While I’ve never personally experienced war, like most other male citizens in Singapore, have at least gone through military life. Generation Kill is the closest adaption I’ve seen to what military life is really like based on the limits of what I’ve personally experienced and also read; and it’s not just about that even. It’s a human drama about men put in difficult and morally ambiguous situations, often with little or unclear directions on what to do, and having to make the best of it.
The cast are all unknowns to me, which makes it easy for me to suspend disbelief. While the cast comprises hundreds – most of whom do not have speaking lines but are in the background as either Iraqi civilians caught up in the conflict, or the American soldiers themselves – you’ll get to know each of the two dozen or so main characters pretty well.
Moreover; despite the series being set in war, there’s actually very little violent conflict in the series – which again is entirely consistent with the nature of the second Iraq war. As it’s been written before elsewhere; war is 95% boredom, 5% terror. The series shows this right to the dot; that war is anything but all glamorous.
Our intrepid band of soldiers spend the vast amount of time instead driving from spot to spot just trying to get to where their officers think they are needed, trying not to get lost (happens VERY often by the way when you’re in uniform LOL), accidentally losing equipment (very common!) and trying to create make-shift replacements, finding out that the equipment you brought along for the mission doesn’t work effectively because you don’t have the right batteries (this one was just maddeningly funny because it was so familiar), mucking around with biological warfare gear (outrageously funny but yet frighteningly realistic), rivalry between combat units (very rarely represented in other made-for-entertainment military dramas). And finally, complaining about your superior officers!
And while it might not be easy to differentiate the two dozen or so lead characters (I only managed to on my second complete viewing of the mini-series), a couple are still instantly recognizable. There’s the charismatic but surprisingly young platoon commander who’s cool under pressure and beloved by his men, his equally able Sergeant, a near delusional other platoon commander who keeps putting his own men under grave risk with his Rambo-esque demeanor, and last of all, an absolutely hilarious martinet of a sergeant major who reminds me so much of my own while a basic military training recruit two decades ago! Here’s what I mean about the fellow when it comes to enforcing grooming standards (be warned – lots of profanity!):
It’s hard thinking up enough descriptors for Generation Kill. It’s not going to be for everyone. Certainly not for persons who dislike military dramas, or like easier to follow shows. But for everyone else who loves a brilliantly acted, written, funny at times yet extremely realistic interpretation of a recent military conflict, this is it. Absolutely the best series, production, or film I’ve seen this year, with Sherlock a close second.
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