The Legendary Actor - Chapter 53

“As a work reflecting World War II, “The Pacific” faced a huge challenge by being compared not only with cinematic masterpieces like “Saving Private Ryan” and “Letters from Iwo Jima”, but also with outstanding miniseries like “Band of Brothers”, where the themes of the war were presented to the audience in every aspect, requiring the cast to not only break new grounds, but also to push it far.

“The Pacific” did just that.

The miniseries focuses on three characters, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone. The episodes can be divided into two parts: the first five episodes, with Robert Leckie as a narrator, reflect the direct impact of war traumas on the soldiers, from physical injuries to broken humanity; the last five episodes, with Eugene Sledge taking the lead, reflect the profound impact of the continuous battlefield on everyone involved.

In addition, there is John Basilone, as a well-known American war hero, his story line is interspersed, focusing on the strong contrast between survival and death, especially the cruelty of the main battlefield and the heaven that U.S. homeland was.

The real soul of “The Pacific” however, is Eugene Sledge. In the first five episodes, Robert’s disorientation and displacement lay the foundation for the story, presenting a devastated and brutal battlefield; John on the other hand shows the battlefield with life on the home front and shifts the weight of the first half of the story to the sublimation of ideas in the second half; in the end, all the burden falls on Eugene’s shoulders, and he is the one to complete the ideals of the series!

This is the root cause of the uneven quality of the episodes.

In the first half of the story, there is too much buildup, too many clues, and the thematic ideas are never quite clear, which not only leads to a slightly chaotic pace of the episodes but also to somewhat intermittent reflections, brought about by the war scenes, failing to really connect with the audience; but in the second half, after all the clues converge on Eugene, the theme of condensed ideas finally bursts into powerful energy.

What can a war really bring? Survival and death? Victory and defeat? Glory and shame?

Eugene Sledge tells us that it is much more than that.

Every time our hands are stained with blood, a fragment of our soul is lost in a corner, until finally we lose ourselves and cannot find our way back; every time we witness a killing, our minds become a little more numb, the darkness and cruelty of our humanity is pushed to the limit, and we lose our faith and become a beast; every time we dance on the edge of life and death, our past life becomes a little more distant, and we stand back only to see that no one can understand what it feels like until they are actually on the battlefield, and then they are gradually forced to isolate themselves from their former lives, they get displaced.

The real cruelty of war lies in the tearing of the soul, in the destruction of humanity, and even more in the severing of their ties with family, friends, lovers, and society, like a hermit bird on an island.

This loneliness and pain is worse than the war itself, more brutal than PTSD, and more bloody than life and death, because it splits society into countless pieces and breaks the picture reflected in the mirror.

In fact, this is the central idea of the entire “The Pacific”, as it was for Robert Leckie, as it was for John Basilone, as it was for Eugene Sledge, and as it was for many other unnamed characters. But Renly Hall, a twenty-year-old actor, gave life to Eugene Sledge. The image he brought abound with vitality, and there is roughness and brutality.

With every wound, every hit, every blood.

Even with every step, one could see the light in those eyes dimming bit by bit, as if a corner of the soul had been torn apart again; there were no heart-rending cries, no struggles, and no insensitive indifference, but the exquisite emotions presented a shocking tide, making every member of the audience clearly feel the grandeur and power of the ocean.

Before one realizes it, tears stain the eyes, and the emotions churning deep inside can’t help but follow Eugene’s every move.

This powerful showmanship reawakened the passion for “The Pacific”! Even enough to rank it among the classics!

Why is it that despite the controversy in the first half of the series, the series continues to rise in the following episodes, becoming a classic? Objectively, the overall frame structure of the episode is calculated precisely, this is after all a group performance, and the excellence of each part of the combination contributes to the overall quality, making it outstanding!

But none of this would have been complete without Renly. As Tom Hanks said at the premiere, Renly is the soul of “The Pacific” carrying not only the weight of the story but also the key to its sublimation, with failures and successes coming from the entire cast and crew, but the title of classic coming solely from Renly.”

A review came from the Wall Street Journal’s Kyle Smith, who was in no hurry to write an immediate review, but waited until the series was winding down before speaking out. The DVD sales are the most important part of the miniseries anyway, and it didn’t really matter if it plays normally, so he could take his time.

Kyle’s ninety-five rating for “The Pacific” made the series surprisingly outperform “Band of Brothers” in the media roundup, though only by one point, at eighty-seven, which is unbelievable for the controversial “The Pacific”.

Although this is only the opinion of the Wall Street Journal, and most critics still refuse to admit that Renly is to “blame” for the resurgence of word-of-mouth, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that word-of-mouth for “The Pacific” is actually starting to climb.

At its lowest, the score was a mere 7.3, a complete disaster for the ambitious HBO, but after the sixth episode, as the number of viewers began to increase, the score began to slowly climb, and by the end of the ninth episode, the score was back up to 8.5!

8.5 is still a long way from the unattainable 9.5 for “Band of Brothers”, but for the weathered “The Pacific”, it was news worth celebrating. This score puts “The Pacific” in the top 100 of the TV Classics 250 list, and once again, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s undefeated streak had been prolonged.

From 7:3 to 8:5, from episode 4 to episode 9, the world changed dramatically, and the Yahoo community’s discussion posts changed completely as well.

After the live broadcast of episode 9, William immediately opened the Yahoo community as he couldn’t wait to post his opinion.

“I can’t describe in words what the young master has been through, but I could really feel the warmth inside him that was almost gone. The lives of his comrades were glued to his chest. Until this moment, I didn’t understand that the cruelest thing about war is not death, because after death, everything will be over. The real horror is to live, to bear the sacrifice of all comrades, to bear the death of innocent lives, to bear the bloodshed of annihilating the enemy, and to live on in this cold world.”

As he typed, William suddenly broke down in tears, which he had not felt even when watching “Band of Brothers”.

“Band of Brothers” can make the blood boil and the tears to pour, and it succeeds in depicting a brotherhood of men fighting side by side, but the audience’s connection to the individual characters is weak; however, “The Pacific” is not the same as “Band of Brothers”. This is a much more personal work about Robert, about John, and about Eugene, and the torment endured by all three of them is mirrored in every soldier who gives a silent protest against the war.

In “The Pacific”, this close connection made William overwhelmed and deeply addicted to the emotions of the characters. When he saw the little light of tears in the corner of Eugene’s eyes, it was as gentle as the spring breeze in March, but then it was hidden in the blink of an eye.

“The young master just sat there quietly, holding still a body that had lost its warmth. In that moment, not even time could bear to make a sound. Jesus Christ, I love the young master, and I love “The Pacific” which is an even better work than “Band of Brothers” I swear, I’m not lying.”

As William read the post, he glanced over his shoulder and then saw the familiar nickname, “Brando Mania,” and it seemed that he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“Ten, absolutely ten! “The Pacific” is worth 10 out of 10 just because of the young master’s play today!”

“Fuck Hanks and Spielberg! I’m watching this series for Eugene!”

“Unbelievable, unbelievable! Today’s episode was really great, and the score for the entire series is on a whole new level! “The Pacific” is finally ready to be ranked among the classics for one reason: Eugene Sledge.”

As the last episode of the series came to an end, it was suddenly apparent, even if one didn’t want to admit it, even if it was unbelievable, even if it was hard to believe, that the name “Eugene Sledge” was shining brightly, almost single-handedly pulling “The Pacific” back from the edge of the cliff and pushing it to the top!