Review of The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) by Jerry K — 30 Dec 2010

This is a solid film about the African-Americans who had to battle racism in order to become fighter pilots during World War II. The Airmen in the film are composites of the real-life Tuskegee Airmen. The exception is Benjamin Davis Jr., the unit commander and a real-life American hero. I think this a justifiable approach. The filmmakers needed to repesent the entire group of Airmen and their exploits fairly, with just a handful of characters. Therefore, the film doesn't focus on individual character development. The characters are vehicles to represent and express the film's important themes. Through the small group of characters, I was able to emotionally invest in the overall struggles of the Airmen.

The story is told in a straightforward manner. It capably shows the absurd difficulties the Airmen had to endure in order to defend our country, from the train ride towards the training base, all the way to the warzones.

It's incredible that in our history, there have been many people who have wasted a lot of time playing games in order keep other people from defending our country during wartime. I mean, God help us, Hitler was marching his goons all over the place, and we were actually squabbling about who should get to fight them!

This film had a TV production budget, and it shows with the large use of archival aerial footage and the short thrift given to the Berlin bombing mission. The scenes where the Airmen are oohing and aahing, when reviewing their own recorded combat footage, are funny to watch. One of the highlights of the film is the scene where Benjamin Davis Jr. has had enough of the stupid racist games and lectures a group of Congressmen about Americanism. Other highlights are the various scenes where the Airmen are given respect by people around them.

This film brings attention to a lesser-known part of American history and carries an important message. The film pays good tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen and their accomplishments.