By: debbie lynn elias
Showcasing some of the best, if not the best, aerial combat footage to hit the big screen, “Behind Enemy Lines” should become the 21st Century poster child for military recruitment. Directed by commercial wizard John Moore in his first feature, “Behind Enemy Lines” is an adrenaline-pumping, fast-paced, non-stop, hip-hip-hooray for the United States military and the U.S. Navy.
Stationed on the USS Carl Vinson “somewhere in the Adriatic,” Owen Wilson stars as top notch navigator Captain Chris Burnett to his pilot partner Stackhouse played by Gabriel Macht. Burnett, who enlisted in the service for the sole purpose of aerial combat (obviously having seen “Top Gun” umpteen times in his formative teen years) is bored, disappointed, disgruntled and ready to leave the service when his tour of duty ends in two weeks. Commanded by the crusty and demanding Admiral Reigart, played to perfection by Gene Hackman, Burnett and Reigart are constantly at odds over Burnett’s cavalier attitude about military service, the chain of command, discipline, routine, and anything and everything else you can think of. All telling of this relationship is Reigart’s response to Burnett’s rudimentary thinking that he has done his duty and served his country well, when Reigart snaps, “You wouldn’t know the first thing about serving your country.”
As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it, and here, Burnett gets more than he ever dreamed. On a Christmas Day reconnaissance flight over Bosnia, Burnett and Stackhouse decide to try out their “shiny new camera”(compliments of the U.S. Government) and veer off a pre-plotted non-confrontational course to play with their new toy. Unfortunately for them, they are spotted by some vengeful, murderous Serbs who fire off two Russian-made SAM missiles aimed to destroy not only a $40 million dollar plane, but our flyboys and any information they obtained in recon as well. Irrefutably the best aerial action ever captured on film, after a nail-biting, heart wrenching chase by the missiles, Burnett and Stackhouse are hit and eject, landing behind enemy lines.
As Stackhouse is injured, Burnett opts to leave him and go in search of higher ground in order to radio for help. Unfortunately, as our boys ejected, they were spotted by the Serbs and one in particular, a murderous tracker whose look is reminiscent of the terrorist attackers at the Munich Olympic, and who clearly kills for the sake of killing. As the Serbs surround Stackhouse, Burnett watches from the distance as his friend is executed by the tracker.
Aware that Burnett is still alive and kicking, the tracker and Burnett engage in a lively cat-and-mouse game as Burnett tries to elude death and make his way to a safe rendezvous point for pick-up by the good guys. However, extraction is not as easy as it looks when Admiral Reigart is shot down in his efforts to rescue Burnett by NATO commander Admiral Piquet. Played by Joaquim de Almeida, Piquet, a Frenchman, is devious, not to be trusted (as the audience learns early on) and appears to be playing both sides of the fence. Hackman’s performance is brilliant, drawing the audience in to his dilemma, making you feel the internal conflict he is experiencing – does he buck the system, screw politics, get his man and ruin his career or, does he sit back, obey NATO, observe peace treaties and let a second man under his command die at the hands of these murderous vultures. In one of the best performances of his career, David Keith as Reigart’s assistant O’Malley, gives voice to Reigart’s conscience and that of the audience as well, aiding in what we know will be Reigart’s inevitable course of action.
But let’s not forget Burnett who is running through the hills and war torn towns of Bosnia, calling on an inner strength, fortitude and survival instinct that one would not suspect he possessed. In what is undoubtedly the defining performance of Wilson’s career (although he was outstanding in “Armageddon”), he melds fear, naivety and bravado into believability.
One of the most shocking scenes of the film comes when, surrounded by the hostile Serbs, Burnett stumbles into a muddied mass grave site and in true survival fashion, dives under some dead bodies to prevent discovery. Adding to the tension are cuts to the USS Vinson where command watches the events on heat sensitive satellite imagery “borrowed” from Northrup Grummond. Is Burnett dead or alive”? Command doesn’t see what the audience sees, and again, Hackman’s expressive confusion and frustration is riveting.
Using the now-infamous Spielberg techniques from “Private Ryan” with hand-held cameras in the thick of battle and during pursuit through hills and valleys, as well and short clipped cuts which only add to the intensity of the situation, the audience is on the edge of their seats cheering Burnett and Reigart at each turn. As we approach Oscar time, one must believe that cinematographer Brendan Galvin, not to mention film editor Paul Martin Smith, will be among the nominees for our consideration. Their work here is incredible. With director Moore’s blue-gray pallor over most of the film tinged with intermittent splashes of color and Smith’s music-video style editing, “Behind Enemy Lines” explodes into an anthem for the U.S. and our servicemen and women.
