I hit the “intermission” of this fantastic film and figured I’d pop something up here about it that really hit me while watching the first half.

(Intermissions, by the way, for you young pups in the audience, was something that was done to allow bathroom breaks, snack runs and such during longer films back in the old days. heh.)

I finally got a blu-ray cut of Tora! Tora! Tora!, one of my all time favorite movies, and it occurs to me as I watch it just how badly governments STILL operate. (Read: bumble and flail about like a bunch of idiots who have agendas that trump reality.)

This film, on the Rottentomatoes site, is an interesting read (critics vs. viewers). A lot of the listed critics(tm) dismiss it, call it names, call it boring.  86% of the audience reviews call it amazing, truthful, historical, intense and a great film.

When watching something that doesn’t go along with the “mainstream” it is a good thing to keep in mind that there are biases coloring the feedback, and I can think of no better film than this one to illustrate just that point.

This film, by the way, is about the most historically accurate presentation that Hollywood has ever put out…ever. In fact, just about the ONLY thing that is “fiction” is the Admiral Yamamoto quote about “waking the sleeping giant” at the very end of the film, which was something he never said, yet became legend after the film was made. Yamamoto might not have uttered these words, but he knew the truth of them, and other things he said back up the veracity of this legendary statement. So even something not factual in this film portrayed reality quite nicely. (Hollywood from another dimension I suppose. heh.)

p.s. This film makes Michael Bay’s trash (Pearl Harbor) look like the piece of fecal matter it truly was.