Red Tails

[yoco]

Release Date: January 20, 2012
Studio: 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm
Director: Anthony Hemingway
Screenwriter: John Ridley
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Cliff Smith, Kevin Phillips, Rick Otto, Lee Tergesen, Andre Royo, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Marcus T. Paulk, Leslie Odom Jr., Michael B. Jordan, Jazmine Sullivan, Edwina Finley, Daniela Ruah, Stacie Davis, Gerald McRaney
Genre: Action, Drama, War
MPAA Rating: Not Available

1944. World War II rages and the fate of the free world hangs in the balance. Meanwhile the black pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program are courageously waging two wars at once – one against enemies overseas, and the other against discrimination within the military and back home. Racial prejudices have long held ace airman Martin "Easy" Julian (Nate Parker) and his black pilots back at base - leaving them with little to do but further hone their flying skills - while their white counterparts are shipped out to combat after a mere three months of training. Mistakenly deemed inferior and assigned only second-rate planes and missions, the pilots of Tuskegee have mastered the skies with ease but have not been granted the opportunity to truly spread their wings.

Until now.

[SealLion]

I had heard that these pilots were so mastered at piloting combat aircraft during WWII that many of the German pilots of the Luftwaffe were quite respectful of their combat skills as pilots.

[slikrapid]

World War II rages and the fate of the free world hangs in the balance.

what free world? what fate? what hanging? so many errors in a single sentence, brings meaninglessness to a whole new level

Meanwhile the black pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program are courageously waging two wars at once – one against enemies overseas, and the other against discrimination within the military and back home.

sounds like 3 wars to me, 2 types of 'wars' (one for survival on the battlefield, others for societal status), the latter not being a general one, but focused only on the race difference, only regarding one specific (own) race

assigned only second-rate planes and missions, the pilots of Tuskegee have mastered the skies with ease

how patronizing - what they may have mastered was flying second-rate planes and missions, similar to what their 'counterparts' may have done regarding first-rate planes & missions


as for the movie itself, its way too inflated: from the numerous & pristine planes, unbelievable stunts, unrealistic battles, to the self-righteousness of the 'black' pilots, their morale-lifters (just like nowadays in some team sport), not to mention some ridiculous comparisons, like the '100 years bigotry' (it was more like over 300 years) or the ultra-patriotic flawless reasons for joining the army, etc. - its just a celluloid version of the game of 'make them feel good about themselves', 'make them think they actually accomplished something', whereas underneath it all, the 'black' citizens were yet another group of pawns (granted, in a harder position than most of their 'counterparts') harnessed to pull the state's cargo, ie. it boils down to 'make them (want to) do as the state/government wishes/commands/preaches'

I had heard that these pilots were so mastered at piloting combat aircraft during WWII that many of the German pilots of the Luftwaffe were quite respectful of their combat skills as pilots.

not very likely (though propaganda & failing enemy morale may have played their role), their total score was around 111 air-air kills (most of which have been scored during the ending phase of the war while the enemy was in continuous retreat), for 450 pilots total, their top aces had max. 4 air-air kills - compare this to the top german aces, where there were dozens of pilots who each had even more kills than that total of 111 - i'd say its just an inflated legend, in line with the above mentioned game principle, without real (or with a flimsy) basis, similar to the 'no bombers lost' one, etc.

or to use a more colorful quote from a british series called 'only fools and horses': ...durin(g) the war...

[yoco]