Anthony Bourdain
The “Parts Unknown” Interview
with Kam Williams
Chef, author and world traveler Anthony Bourdain is an outspoken trailblazer with unique insights about food, culture and current events. Here, he talks about his life, career and his Peabody and Emmy-winning TV-series, Parts Unknown.
Kam Williams: Hi Anthony, thanks for the interview. I love the show. I’m honored to have this opportunity to speak with you.
Anthony Bourdain: Oh no, my pleasure, Kam.
KW: Congratulations on the his Peabody and Emmys for Parts Unknown.
AB: Thank you. It feels good.
KW: I told my readers I’d be interviewing you. So, I’ll be mixing their questions for you in with my own. The first is from editor/Legist Patricia Turnier who is French Canadian. She says: You have French background and you’re fascinated with French cuisine. Do you speak the language?
AB: Yes, badly. But my French definitely improves the more I drink, as I worry less and less about absolutely perfect grammar. [Chuckles] I do speak and understand the language, just not particularly well.
KW: Patricia also asks: Did you spend any summers in France with your parents growing up?
AB: Just a few. Two or three. Three summers, I think.
KW: Patricia says: you are an excellent writer. What is the best advice you have for young writers about cultivating a unique writing style with a sophisticated voice like yours?
AB: Wow! That’s hard to say… I just don’t know… Be true to yourself. I write quickly with a sense of urgency. I don’t edit myself out of existence, meaning I’ll try to write 50 or 60 pages before I start rereading, revising and editing. That just helps with my confidence. I listen a lot to how people speak. I’ve read a great many good books in my life. I had some excellent English teachers. Surely, those things were helpful.
KW: Besides your books, the show is extremely well-written. Do you have a hand in that?
AB: I write the voiceover as part of the editing process, some of it beforehand. Working with the producer, we’ll sort of hash out the flow of each show, the sequence of events, and the general framework. And maybe there will be some writing as well that they can edit to. But much of it is done afterwards. It’s a long and interactive process that takes about 9 to12 weeks sometimes, per show. So, a lot of attention is paid. I’m very aware that we’re telling a story here, and that we want to tell it in the most compelling, honest and accurate way we can.
KW: I’m not surprised to hear that you wear several different hats on the show, since you strike me as one of these versatile, multi-talents like David Byrne.
AB: I wouldn’t want to compare myself to David Byrne whom I consider a genius, but what I think what we have in common is that he’s also a guy who is very interested in the world and who has a lot of passions beyond singing and playing guitar. Clearly, if you track his career, you see a great many collaborations with interesting artists, and his work reflects whatever’s turning him on that year. In that sense, what a great way to live, if you could always do things that interest you, and do them with people who interest you.
KW: Editor Lisa Loving says: This is tough because you have already been asked everything from your worst meal ever [unwashed warthog rectum] to the most disgusting food you ever ate [McDonald’s]. Would you mind comparing McDonald’s to some of the wildest dishes you’ve sampled on the show?
AB: I think it’s very hard to make an argument that a Chicken McNugget is either chicken or a nugget? If you’re eating unwholesome, street food in a country where they have to make do with whatever scraps are left to them, at least you know what it is, and generally have some sense of where it came from. Whereas a McNugget, to my way of thinking, is a Frankenfood whose name doesn’t necessarily reflect what it is. I’m still not sure what it is. Listen, Kam, when drunk, I will eat a McNugget. It’s not the worst tasting thing in the world, but it’s one of the things I’m least likely to eat, because I choose not to.
KW: Isn’t there beef in the Chicken McNugget’s bread crumbs?
AB: They use a beef flavor that they spray or somehow add. I think it’s in the French fries, as well. Manipulating flavor, salinity and sugar levels is an important part of convenience food, snack food and fast food.
KW: Lisa also asks: What does your daughter Ariane like to eat? Have you cooked together yet?
AB: We cook together all the time. And since her mom and grandparents are Italian, a little Italian gets snuck in. She eats like a European kid in the sense that she’s very daring. She eats raw oysters, chicken hearts and yakitori and other Japanese food. She’s very curious about food and isn’t afraid to try new things. She loves to cook with me, and I love cooking with her. When we do cook together, we generally make ratatouille and pastas. Simple things. She’s 7, so I have to monitor her knife work very carefully. But I just gave her her first chef’s knife.
KW: when you’re in the middle of nowhere, do you ever hesitate before eating something alien, fearing a negative reaction that might call for emergency medical attention that’s too far away?
AB: No, wholesome food is wholesome food anywhere. I may not like something but, generally speaking, if it’s a busy, street food stall serving mystery meat in India, they’re in the business of serving their neighbors. They’re not targeted toward a transient crowd of tourists that won’t be around tomorrow. They’re not in the business of poisoning their neighbors. I have eaten food that was clearly not fresh, that was dirty. I knew I was spinning the wheel of fortune there, but I did it because there was no polite way out. I saw it as the lesser of two evils, and I did pay a price. But it’s one I was willing to pay because turning your nose up at a genuine and sincere gesture of hospitality is no way to travel or to make friends around the world.
KW: Jeff Cohen says: I love that guy and his show. I want to know how I can get that job. Best job in the world!
AB: Hell if I know. I still don’t know how this happened to me. One minute I was dunking French fries, the next minute I had a TV show. I still haven’t figured it out. I guess not giving a crap is a very good business model.
KW: More seriously, Jeff asks: What fuels your passion to find out of the way places and cuisine, and how do you incorporate those experiences into your cooking?
AB: As far as the first part of the question, that’s just how I like to eat. Those are the places that make me happy, and they’re the most representative places, if you kinda want to get the flavor of what a place is really like and of who lives there. As to the second part of the question, it may come as a surprise to some that I do not incorporate those flavors that I discover or encounter around the world into my own cooking. I’m not so arrogant as to think that I can visit India for a week and then come back and cook Indian food. Just because I like sushi, doesn’t mean I can make sushi. I’ve come to well understand how many years just to get sushi rice correct. It’s a discipline that takes years and years and years. So, I leave that to the experts. When I cook, I generally stick with what I know, what I’m comfortable with, and what I feel I’ve paid my dues learning, and am good at.
KW: Jim Cryan has a question related to one of his favorite episodes of Parts Unknown: What's the best street food to eat while watching cricket in India?
AB: Gee, I forget the name, but it was this very spicy, colorful, flavorful Rice Krispies-type dish.
KW: Cousin Leon Marquis asks: What's the strangest food you ever ate, and where were you when you ate it?
AB: I think I’d refer back to Chicken McNugget or a Cinnabon.
KW: Attorney/Pastry Chef Bernadette Beekman was wondering whether you have a preference for any particular type of cuisine.
AB: If I were trapped in one city and had to eat one nation’s cuisine for the rest of my life, I would not mind eating Japanese. I adore Japanese food. I love it.
KW: Bernadette would also like to know whether you will do other love stories to cities in period style such as you did with Italy? Loved the black and white “La Dolce Vita" feeling!
AB: That was one of my proudest accomplishments, and one of my favorite shows. I don’t know whether we’d do it in black and white again, but yes, I hope to do another richly-textured, carefully-designed, cinematic ode to a city I love and to its food. Sure! That’s always what I like to do, and when I’m at my happiest.
KW: Pittsburgh native Robin Beckham says: Parts Unknown is one of my favorite shows. She asks: Do you ever plan to visit the Steel City?
AB: Very likely, yes.
KW: Robin goes on to say: Mr. Bourdain, through your show you call attention to the variety of food choices people are indulging in around the world. And on your journeys visiting various countries, you have a unique way of helping to break down religious, racial and ethnic barriers by presenting people in a light that forces an audience to think about other cultures in a positive manner (in a way they may never have in the past). When you return to the United States and witness the racial divide we have in Ferguson, what are some of your thoughts about what we need to do here in America to bring people together? What are the “Parts Unknown,” from your perspective, that can help to heal our country?
AB: Wow, that’s a big, big, big, big, big question, Robin. I wish I knew. We are, in many ways, a much more divided nation than we like to think or say we are. In some of the countries I’ve visited, like Malaysia and Singapore, people are mixed up, whether they like it or not. Here, it’s like a grid system, even in New York, where we like to think of ourselves as enlightened and multi-racial. It’s a complicated question that I certainly don’t feel qualified to answer. I could suggest that all that’s needed is for us to sit down and share a meal together, but I don’t know if that’s true. Certainly, to the extent that people can walk in each other’s shoes for a few hours, or even just for a few minutes, this can only be a good thing. Looking at Ferguson, Missouri from the outside, I would guess that the Police Department has a particular siege mentality, an “us vs. them” mentality, that’s not all that unusual in this world when you look at angry, disenfranchised, paranoid people. It’s a mentality that emerges in groups of people. It’s ugly and, frankly, I’m the last person in the world in terms of having a constructive clue as to what to do about it.
KW: But you have a natural ability to relate to people and to reduce the human experience to a collective one. Add in food, and you’re a natural ambassador.
AB: It’s not my intention. I’m out there looking to tell stories about other cultures, places I go, and things I see. That’s all, really. I’m not trying to explain other cultures, or to give a fair and balanced account of a country, or the top ten things you need to know. I’m not trying to spread world peace and understanding. I’m not an advocate or and activist or an educator or a journalist. I’m out there trying to tell stories the best I can. I come back and make television shows that give as honest a sense of what I felt like when I was there. If that enables the audience to empathize with people they felt hostile towards or never thought about before, that is good and I feel happy about that. But that is not my mission in life. My mission in life is tell an entertaining, well-made, well-crafted story that is true to myself. I am proud and pleased when viewers report afterwards feeling some kinship with people they never imagined empathizing with before. I’m not Bono. I’m not on a mission.
KW: You’re doing something that resonates with the audience to come to CNN and become the network’s highest rated show almost immediately.
AB: I see Parts Unknown as an adjunct to the news in the sense that when you see something terrible or something good that transpires in Libya or Palestine or Iran or Congo or Southeast Asia, you know who we’re talking about, if you’ve watched this show. You’ve sat down with a family from the West Bank or Gaza. You’ve seen the daily routine of a Vietnamese rice farmer. You have some sense of whom we’re talking about in Congo, the next time a statistic pops up. We put a human face on places faraway from where we live. I think it’s useful. It may not be news, but it’s useful.
KW: Do you think you’re helping to obliterate the “Ugly American” stereotype by being so sensitive to and appreciative of other cultures?
AB: I think many, if not most, of the people I’ve met in countries where you’d not expect them to be friendly, make a definite distinction between our government and us. They are extraordinarily friendly and welcoming just about everywhere, and are often cynical about their own leaders and government. So, the idea that they could disagree with many things about our government and yet still find it in their hearts to invite us to their table and to enjoy sharing their culture with us is not an unusual impulse, at all, in my experience. People everywhere have been very, very good to me, whether I’m with or without cameras.
KW: Robin asks: Do you have any updates on a possible show in North Korea? AB: The state control is so tight there that there’s no way we could have anything resembling an organic or real experience. They really keep you inside a sort of North Korean Disneyland, and there would be no way, at all, of seeing how ordinary North Koreans live, and that, of course, is what we would want to show.
KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?
AB: Playing with plastic army men on the beach with my brother at around 3.
KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
AB: I see a face full of lines, and every one of them has been earned.
KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?
AB: I love making Neapolitan style ragu of neck bones, oxtail and tough cuts of meat, and slowly cooking down with a tomato sauce into a ragu.
KW: The Sanaa Lathan question: What excites you?
AB: A bowl of spicy noodles, a beautiful beach, anything involving my daughter, a fat unread book, any number of film directors coming out with a new film, and seeing stuff that few others have seen. And Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I’ve been doing lot of that lately, and it’s deeply satisfying.
KW: Sangeetha Subramanian says: I have really enjoyed and learned so much watching Parts Unknown. What advice do you have for vegetarians who want to travel to countries where it's a bit harder to find meals with no seafood and no meat?
AB: I’m sort of unsympathetic. I just think it’s bad manners.
KW: Robin asks: What do you share with your daughter about your experience connecting with human beings who welcome you into their very different worlds?
AB: She watches my show, and I try to bring the family along to one family-friendly location a year. She’s only 7, but she’s traveled pretty widely. I think it’s important for a kid, especially a privileged kid like my daughter, to see that not everybody in the world lives like her.
KW: How does she react to seeing daddy on TV?
AB: She doesn’t take it seriously. In my house, neither my wife nor my daughter are impressed that I’m on television, and they remind me of that frequently.
KW: If you could have a chance to speak with a deceased loved one for a minute who would it be and what would you say?
AB: Well, my dad. When my father passed, I was still an unsuccessful cook with a drug problem. I was in my mid-thirties, standing behind an oyster bar, cracking clams for a living when he died. So, he never saw me complete a book or achieve anything of note. I would have liked to have shared this with him.
KW: The Anthony Anderson question: If you could have a superpower, which one would you choose?
AB: I’d like to play bass like Bootsy Collins. I’m serious. That would be my dream. Or I’d play with James Brown’s Famous Flames or with Parliament or Funkadelic.
KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
AB: Show up on time and do the best job you can.
KW: The Tavis Smiley question: How do you want to be remembered?
AB: I don’t care.
KW: Thanks again for the time, Anthony, this has been tremendous. All the best with the family, the new season and all your travels.
AB: Thank you, Kam. It’s been fun. I really enjoyed it. So long.
To see a trailer for Parts Unknown, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od09-RQo5Kw
The Best of Me
Film Review by Kam Williams
The real test of a good tearjerker is whether or not it moves you to tears. And this movie managed to make me cry in spite of myself.
As this film unfolded, I frequently found myself criticizing its considerable structural flaws, from the questionable casting to the farfetched storyline to one humdinger of a reveal. Nevertheless, as the closing credits rolled, I found myself wiping my eyes, a sure sign that this manipulative melodrama calculated to open the floodgates had achieved its goal.
Directed by Michael Hoffman (The Last Station), the picture is loosely based on the Nicholas Sparks best seller of the same name published in 2011. Sparks is the prolific author of 18 romance novels, half of which have been adapted to the big screen, most notably Message in a Bottle and The Notebook, with a couple more already in the works.
Set in Oriental, North Carolina, The Best of Me stars James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan as Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier, former high school sweethearts who haven’t seen each in a couple decades. Strangely, the teenage versions of the very same characters are played in a series of intermittent flashbacks by look-un-likes Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato.
The point of departure is the present, where we learn that Dawson, who never married or attended college, is employed on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. He subsequently barely survives a deepwater explosion that blows him off the hundred-foot high platform and turns the Gulf of Mexico into a sea of fire. Meanwhile, miserably married Amanda is living in the lap of luxury in Baton Rouge where she has stuck it out for 18 years with an abusive alcoholic (Sebastian Arcelus) for the sake of their son (Ian Nelson).
Fate brings the two back to their tiny hometown for the funeral of Tuck (Gerald McRaney), a mutual friend with a posthumous agenda. He named them both in his will with the hope of orchestrating a reunion of the star-crossed lovers he considered meant for each other. Sure enough, sparks fly, but will they share more than a one-night stand?
A syrupy, sentimental soap opera tailor-made for fans of the Nicholas Sparks franchise.
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for sexuality, violence, brief profanity and some drug use
Running time: 117 minutes
Distributor: Relativity Media
To see a trailer for The Best of Me, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrEvBiqoeRc
Orgasm
Photographs & Interviews
by Linda Troeller and Marion Schneider
Book Review by Kam Williams
Daylight Books
Hardcover, $35.00
188 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-9897981-3-6
“Due to the repression and shame imposed by patriarchy, we are still at the onset of exploration of female sexuality and eroticism. Not only does this book reveal the power, divinity, originality and necessity of female orgasm, but by giving women agency and voice regarding their sexuality, it becomes a deeply erotic work in itself.
Each woman, a brave sex artist mapping a landscape of pleasure, explosion and mythic delight. The project makes it clear that orgasms not only liberate women’s lives, but can save the world as well.
This book is an orgasm.”
-- Eve Ensler (page 69)
Given America’s Puritanical cultural roots, it’s no surprise that it’s considered déclassé even to mention the female orgasm in polite society. Sure, we might have all laughed at an exasperated Teri Garr joking in the movie Tootsie that “I’m responsible for my orgasm!” Or at that hilarious deli scene from When Harry Met Sally where a matronly patron told her waitress, “I’ll have what she’s having,” after watching Meg Ryan climax while eating a sandwich at an adjoining table.
But other than such humorous asides, the climax is rarely the topic of casual conversation let alone of serious clinical examination. Now, thanks to photographer Linda Troeller and historian Marion Schneider, who in 1998 published “The Erotic Lives of Women,” we have a groundbreaking book blowing the sheets off (pun very much intended) the taboo subject.
For this collaboration the pair found 25 women of every age and ethnicity and from countries as far apart as Holland, France, Israel, Germany, Colombia, Portugal and the United States who were willing to be photographed while answering questions about a most intimate aspect of their sex lives. They were all asked to recount their first and their most powerful orgasms, as well as their greatest fantasies and what orgasms mean to them.
The responses varied wildly. Co-author Marion describes hers as “the building up of energy focused on a certain point: my vagina” where “the energy buildup becomes so great that… it needs to discharge into the universe.” By contrast, Dragonfly, an African-American, sees hers as “a pleasurable reflex, much like a sneeze or a hiccup, or when you jerk your knee when the doctor hits it with the hammer.” Keren from Israel defines hers as “the release of tension… related to some kind of emotional overflow” after which she feels both “clearer” and “emotionally cleansed.”
An eye-opening project that plunges with abandon into the deep chasm of sexual freedom and sexual identity.
Michael Pena & David Ayer
The “Fury” Interview
with Kam Williams
Michael Pena was born in Chicago on January 13, 1976 to immigrant parents from Mexico . After graduating from high school, he answered an open casting call for the sequel to To Sir, with Love. He landed a role, relocated to L.A., and the rest is history.
Michael went on to deliver memorable performances in Crash, Million Dollar Baby, Babel and The Lincoln Lawyer. He also landed lead roles in World Trade Center and End of Watch, and played the title character in the biopic about Cesar Chavez released earlier this year.
Here, he and End of Watch director David Ayer talk about reuniting to collaborate on Fury, a World War II adventure starring Brad Pitt.
Kam Williams: Hi David and Michael, thanks for the interview. I really appreciate it.
David Ayer: Right on!
Michael Pena: Thanks, Kam.
KW: I loved Fury! Great job! Did you read my blurb about the movie?
DA: Not yet.
KW: I described it as a WWII tank flick you don’t so much watch as endure. Picture the sheer intensity of Saving Private Ryan coupled with the visual capture of The Thin Red Line, the harrowing claustrophobia of Das Boot, and the utter insanity of Apocalypse Now.
MP: I’ll take that.
DA: That’s pretty damn good, bro!
KW: I’ll be mixing in readers’ questions with some of my own. Attorney Bernadette Beekman asks: David, what is the most significant memory from your military service which continues to influence your writing today?
DA: Holy cow! Nothing I would care to say in public. [LOL] Actually, there’s nothing I could say in public, because of my security covenants. My proudest moment was being awarded my submarine warfare qualifications pin in the Philippines after a lot of intense studying.
KW: David, given that you served in the Navy, where did the idea for Fury come from?
DA: I had one grandfather who was in the Army in World War II, and my other grandfather served in a Navy submarine during the war. And I had an uncle in the Army Air Corps. But I’ve always been fascinated by the war in Europe. And I kinda realized that no one had done a tank movie about it. It was sort of long overdue. So, I hope this becomes the classic American tank movie, the Top Gun for the Armored Corps.
KW: I think you achieved that given how you make the audience feel like they’re right inside the tank and have us pulling for the crew at every turn. I was sweating bullets.
DA: It’s really intense.
KW: Bernadette asks Michael: Having appeared in multiple Ayer-written works, do you have an affinity for an Ayer script. Do you feel a certain rhythm to the dialogue in each film?
MP: Yeah, of course I loved Training Day and Harsh Times. I remember then reading the script for End of Watch and thinking: this is a great role, dude! I studied my entire life to make almost every performance as if I were doing a documentary. That’s my motivation. And David writes in that style, so I went, “Oh, this is so cool. I can actually delve in.” Not every director likes that. After I read the dinner scene, I couldn’t wait to do it. I remember on the day of the shoot, he asked me whether I wanted to warm up. But I said, “No, I’ve been rehearsing it for five months. Let’s go now!”
KW: Bernadette asks: Michael, do you have a preference for roles in a certain genre? Is there a type of role you tend to seek to play?
MP: I didn’t go to acting school. Because I didn’t have a lot of cash, the way I taught myself how to act was by watching all of the early Inside the Actor’s Studio episodes. I watched Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and Robert De Niro’s Mean Streets a hundred times. I prefer films that are very, very real, like Crash, End of Watch and now Fury. I just enjoy the basic human drama.
KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier asks: Michael, How did you prepare for the role of Gordo?
MP: It was tough because, although it was all there on the page, I wanted to represent more of a generational figure. So, I took from a bunch of other people. But as for the voice, David would talk to me in Spanish in kind of the same rhythm, because I could easily lose it, especially since we were filming in England where I was surrounded on the set by so many British accents. So, I needed a little more help on this one than usual. To me, the voice was a critical aspect of the character, because Gordo has a different sense of humor. He’s kind of a simple man. I thought about the way my dad is. He grew up in Mexico, and was a farmer. He’s a very simple, quiet, brooding man.
KW: Patricia also asks: Michael, You recently portrayed Cesar Chavez?
MP: He means an awful lot, to be honest with you. My parents were farmers who came to the U.S. for the American Dream. They still grew cucumbers and peppers and corn in the backyard, because we didn’t have much money. They came to this country because people had taken advantage of them in Mexico. And here comes this small man by the name of Cesar Chavez who actually fought for their rights. It wasn’t the easiest thing for him to do, to speak up on behalf of people who didn’t have a voice. And he actually took it upon himself to do just that, and he made a big difference. So, it was an honor for me to be given an opportunity to portray him.
KW: Margaret Van Dagens says: You are both from the Midwest, and both originally from Illinois, my home state. I'd like to know how being from the Midwest has influenced your work, and whether being from there gave you a feeling of camaraderie as you collaborate on projects. This is not as superficial a question as it may sound. I feel that being from the Midwest has made a great difference in my work.
MP: Honestly, I didn’t even know David was from the Midwest until this minute.
DA: Yeah, I bounced out of there as a kid, and pretty much grew up in L.A.
KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: David, how do you walk the fine line between gore and gripping?
DA: You don’t want to take your audience out of the movie, and too much of the wrong thing can do that. Violence and violent images obviously have a strong effect. If it’s gratuitous, it ain’t good. It has to have a reason. For me, especially in this film, violence has consequences. And the violence is part of the environment this band of brothers lives in. These guys are like a family trying to survive in a violent environment. So, every violent act is reflected in these characters. And they have to process them and come to terms with them.
KW: Harriet has one for you Michael. She says: You’ve just done a biopic and an action film based on true stories—how is the preparation different from roles based on fiction?
MP: I don’t really think there is much of a difference. I try to do the same kind of work from picture to picture. The only time it’s different is when I’m doing comedy. Then, the main focus is on making people laugh. And then, secondarily, you try to find the drama in it. I grew up in the ghetto, and I remember not realizing I lived in the ‘hood until I moved out of there. Then, I was like, “Oh man, I used to live like crap. Holy cow!” The crackheads and heroin addicts weren’t cool, but other than that I had so much fun growing up.
KW: Harriet also asks: With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you'd like to direct, David?
DA: That’s hard for me to say. Because I’m a writer, it’s easy for me to generate material for myself. My big advantage as a director is that I’m also a writer. The way that markets work now, everything has to be PG-13, and you have to kind of go for a broader audience. So, the problem with remakes is that a lot of what made an original special can get watered down or lost.
KW: Thanks again for the time, guys, and best of luck with the film.
DA: Alright, Kam.
MP: Absolutely!
To see a trailer for Fury, visit:
Fury
Film Review by Kam Williams
It is April of 1945, and the Allies are making major inroads across the European theater. However, Adolf Hitler has responded to the attrition in the ranks of his army by exhorting women and children to take up arms in a desperate fight to the death.
This is the state of affairs awaiting Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt) when he reaches Germany after engagements in Africa, Belgium and the Netherlands. Sergeant Collier is the commander of a Sherman tank that is part of a battle-hardened armored division being dispatched deep into enemy territory to help deliver the coup de grace to the Nazis.
We meet Wardaddy during a brief pause in the action taken to refuel, to restock ammo and to replace his recently-deceased “best damn gunner in the 9th battalion.” Now, he must make do with Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), a private with no fighting experience just plucked out of the typing pool.
The other members of Collier’s motley crew include tank driver Trini Garcia (Michael Pena), Bible-thumping Boyd Swan (Shia LaBeouf) and a good ol’ boy who goes by Coon-Ass (Jon Benthal). Their next mission is to rescue some stranded GIs urgently in need of assistance.
But prior to shipping out, Collier wants to make sure his greenhorn is ready for the front. So, he forces him to shoot a captured SS officer in the head to show he has no qualms about killing.
That is the premise established at the outset of Fury, a fairly gruesome adventure written and directed by U.S. Navy veteran David Ayer (Training Day). Fair warning: this is a film you don’t so much watch as endure. Picture the sheer intensity of Saving Private Ryan coupled with the visual capture of The Thin Red Line, the harrowing claustrophobia of Das Boot, and the utter insanity of Apocalypse Now.
Brad Pitt exudes an endearing combination of confidence and charm as a calm leader who proves himself quite capable of generating a genuine camaraderie among his men despite the cramped quarters and constant close brushes of death. Moreover, he exhibits an uncanny ingenuity when forced by circumstances to survive by his wits as their resources dwindle.
The meat grinder that was World War II convincingly portrayed from the point-of-view of a band of brothers who were like sitting ducks stuck in a sardine can.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for sexuality, graphic violence, grisly images and pervasive profanity
In English and German with subtitles
Running time: 134 minutes
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
To see a trailer for Fury, visit: