The Tuskegee Airmen – Two different films

All clickable links in red

Lest people think that only we Desis screw up war movies by adding all sorts of unnecessary masala, think twice. Hollywood is equally if not more guilty of the same fact. The two different films on the real-life story of The Tuskegee Airmen prove this. One, a TV movie with relatively limited budgets, is very authentic and the other, a full-length film is full of masala and hyper VFX. But before taking a dive into the world of The Tuskegee Airmen, it is necessary to take a quick look at the facts:

Fact:  The Tuskegee Airmen were basically the all-black 332 Fighter Group, where both the pilots and the ground crew, officers and NCOs, were entirely black. Naturally they had to fight two wars:

1. Against the White Establishment – who had severe racist stereotypes. There were even biased studies to state that the blacks were good for nothing but manual labour and incapable of any profession demanding “intelligence”.
2. The Nazis (as they primarily fought in Europe in the Italian theatre)

This resulted in some of the best fighter pilots, five of whom became aces (shooting down more than five enemy aircraft). They were thus called because most of their training took place in Tuskegee, Alabama.

As was natural, their contribution was never acknowledged but various post 1960s histories acknowledged that they were the pioneers of equal civil rights in the USA. The 332 FG had one of the highest success rates as bomber escorts in the Italian theatre. Because of the red paint on their aircraft tails, they were popularly known as Red Tails. One of the popular myths attributed to them is that they were so aggressive in combat, that they never lost a single bomber whom they were escorting; this has since been proved as a myth. This myth is prevalent in both films .

The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)

Genre – War Movie (based on true stories)

Time: 1 Hour 42 minutes

Platform: Jio Cinema. (Amazon Prime USA)

Cast: Laurence Fishburne, John Lithgow, Andre Braugher, etc

Hannibal Lee Jr. (Laurence Fishburne) is one of the several black men who gather at Tuskegee under the leadership of Benjamin Davis (Andre Braugher) who is clear that they will not get any special favours just because they are all black and will be treated just like any other soldier to whom all standard rules and regulations will apply. While an American Senator (John Lithgow) vociferously argues against their employment, citing “scientific” evidence, no less a person that Eleanor Roosevelt, President Roosevelt’s wife, takes to the air in a plane piloted by a black pilot, to show her confidence.  Here’s a video explaining how that event happened. https://youtu.be/M8OgL7yjqpY?si=XS68TwrUlJGXIu0R

Soon the pilots are sent to North Africa and then Italy, on combat missions, escorting bombers.

This was a HBO TV movie and it shows in the somewhat limited special effects mixed and matched with the real visuals of the WW2 combat aircraft . In the real world , the group gradually ascended from  the P40 Warhawk through the first rate P47 Thunderbolt to the magnificent P51 Mustang. In this film mostly P51 Mustangs are shown (no doubt due to lack of flying examples of the P40 and P47). Except for Colonel Davis, all the other pilots are composites of many real heroes.

The story is told in a matter of act way without any major diversions or drama and which contributes to its appeal though there are many filmi moments when we can anticipate ‘such and such character just talked of going back to his home at the end of the war’ he surely will die in combat’.

Of the two films , this is definitely the better one

Historical Background – 4 out of 5

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Special Effects – 3 out of 5

Total – 3.8 out of 5

Red Tails (2015)

Genre – War Movie (based on true stories)

Time: 2 Hours 4 minutes

Platform: Disney Hotstar; (Amazon Prime India Rent)

Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr.  Gerald McRaney.

Red Tails should be taken as an exercise in how NOT to make a film where the VFX becomes an end in itself and not the means to an end – which is telling the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.  This is surely the result of George Lucas being the executive producer and thus the full resources of his Industrial Light and Magic being available for the film.

There are total filmy diversions including a romance between a black pilot and a local Italian woman – possible as Italy was occupied by pilots and soldiers of all races and across the world.  But it distracts from the story telling -which is basically about the overcoming of white prejudices and excelling at the mission. As happens with a film that has incredible visual effects, the story takes a backseat.

Also the ‘real history’ is full of masala – like the 332  shooting down the German Me262 (happened in North West Europe but mostly when the jets were in landing patterns when their speed was slow), blowing up destroyers (NOT  possible with just machine guns), a prison camp escape in which one black pilot sacrifices himself; the “close escort” tactics are basically wrong (most kills were on free runs beyond the bombers proximity), the German chief pilot utters such sublime statements like “no mercy”;  one of the pilots needs alcohol to fight and gives it up after the death of his close friend who had asked him to do so;  and so on. This is a much poorer storytelling effort where style overwhelms the substance and the true heart wrenching stories of the black pilots and their struggles.

Historical Background – 3 out of 5

Script – 2 out of 5

Story – 2 out of 5

Direction – 3 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Special Effects – 5 out of 5

Total – 3.2 out of 5