Review of M*A*S*H (1970) by Spangle — 27 Jan 2017

MASH is a hard film to really enjoy on a first watch or, really, any watch. I knew what to expect. It was a satirical war film from Robert Altman. It will be character driven with little-to-no plot and it was mock the perception held of soldiers, the medical teams, and a little bit of religion along the way. But, MASH is incredibly abrasive. Its characters are deeply unlikable with how juvenile and sexist they are. They mock the women mercilessly and expose their body just to see them naked and to determine their natural hair color. These are vicious, dangerous men and it is nearly impossible to wring enjoyment out of this dark black comedy film. But, fortunately, there is meat on this film's bones with some typical Altman trademarks to sink your teeth into. I can only imagine how much I would have hated this if this was my first Altman though.

Juxtaposing the brutality of war with the juvenile hijinx of the main cast, the film focuses on Hawkeye Piece (Donald Sutherland), Trapper McIntyre (Elliott Gould), and Duke Forrest (Tom Skerritt), three surgeons with the 4077th MASH in South Korea. Tremendous surgeons, they are also desperately horny and sexist throughout the film. But, the focus is the juxtaposition here. They are wise cracking idiots who perform brutal and bloody surgeries all day, but make jokes even during an operation. They travel to Japan to operate on a Congressman's son, make asses of themselves, complete the surgery with ease, operate on a baby, and then rush off to play golf. They are imbeciles and complete jerks, but they are brilliant men. Altman does a great job to portray this contrast, but it is truly a comment on war itself. No battle is shown here, but Altman expertly uses this pairing to show the brutality of war and the need to joke around to lose sight of the horror of the injuries they witness. They are able to make light of their situation to great effect and distract themselves completely throughout the film. The surgeons may have a horrible job, but these boys never let up and keep plugging along with crude jokes and horsing around the base. Staunchly anti-hero during this period of his filmography, MASH shows just how much contempt Altman has for people perceived as unquestionable heroes. Soldiers are just another one with frontiersmen and cowboys being his next targets in McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Buffalo Bill and the Indians. Here, he shows the surgeons in the army as being unrepenting jerks. While the banter between the trio is hilarious at times, they are sexist pigs who harass a nurse and reduce women to nothing but their looks and breasts. The men sit around all day and play pranks on others and finish the film by ripping off another MASH unit headed by a General. These guys are complete jerks, through and through. While they meet a better ending - getting to go home - than many other heroes in Altman films, the whole point is to show what asses they guys are. Thus, calling the film itself sexist is to miss the point of MASH. These men are sexist and likely racist, yes. But, Altman wishes to pull the covers back off of soldiers and make people realize that these guys are not all good. Some are great heroes, sure. These surgeons do great work and save many lives. But, men like Major Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and the trio of protagonists are not deserving of praise beyond their work. They are asses to those they work with and treat nobody else with respect beyond themselves. Honestly, this is simply more of Altman's classic cynicism, but dressed in satire and a taken down of the cult of heroism surrounding soldiers.

As with McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the film also includes some religious critique. Though less overt than in that film, MASH features Walter Burns, a very religious man. While praying, he is mocked by Hawkeye and Duke. In no time at all, Walter shows himself to be a complete jerk by blaming a young boy for killing a patient when there was nothing to be done for the patient. He then follows this up by having sex with Margaret Houlihan (Sally Kellerman) with the duo justifying that it is "God's will" they meet, even if Walter is married. In many ways, this is very similar to McCabe & Mrs. Miller in that Altman highlights the hypocrisy of many Christians. Saying one thing and doing another is prevalent in society, but man deride it in religion since it usually comes with a pompous attitude. Walter Burns is no exception as he believes himself to be a great man, at least better than the non-religious surgeons. However, it becomes clear that he is just as bad as they are, but at least they care to admit it and embrace the fact that they are **** Instead, he hides behind the veil of religion and pretends to be a good man. By comparison, Altman treats the Chaplin with great respect. He is shown to be a trusted and kind man who helps to save a suicidal patient. By the end, we see him praying of Hawkeye's car with no snide remarks from Hawkeye.