MovieChat Forums > Pearl Harbor (2001) Discussion > So how realistic is the attack scene?

So how realistic is the attack scene?


Despite the inaccuracies and film itself, one can't deny the attack scene is pretty well done. So how realistic is it in terms of what actually happened on that day? The film shows mass chaos, bodies littering the ocean, civilians screaming and running, hospitals being bombed, etc. How close to reality is this? In Toro, Toro, Toro, they made it seem a bit less chaotic, and many of the characters were just standing around as the attack took place. Were planes really shooting down at swimming soldiers, flying through the harbor (low to the sea, too), men jumping off ships, etc?

Looking at some of the color footage of the actual attack it looks like the film overplayed it a bit, though I could be wrong.

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One of the actual pilots who got in the air that day said PH was complete trash. The Japanese also did not deliberately bomb the hospital.

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In the superb "World at War" series, Pearl Harbor survivors talk about the pure chaos of that morning. I don't think there'll ever be a perfect war movie or battle scene because movies require control... even controlled chaos. Not having ever been in combat I can't say for certain, but I'd say the reality lays somewhere both between and beyond those scenes of T!x3 and PH; more chaotic than T!3 certainly, more historical than PH, and with far more carnage than either. The Omaha Beach battle of "Saving Private Ryan" many say comes closest to catching that reality.




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My understanding is the attack in the film was longer that the real attack, by several minutes.

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My understanding is the attack in the film was longer that the real attack, by several minutes.


I would have to guess that the longer attack could be explained because we're seeing events that took place simultaneously, but in linear fashion. The scene would not have been as effective in a split screen, but that's the only way that we could see the simultaneous events simultaneously and keep the scene to the historical length of the attack.

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My understanding is the attack in the film was longer that the real attack, by several minutes.


Incorrect.

The film AS A WHOLE... from start to finish is longer than the actual attack... but just the attack sequence of the film itself is still shorter.

The attack took place from about 0755 to 0930, 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The attack seen in the film was not nearly 2 hours of a three hour movie.



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By several minutes???? Well then this movie was bunk.

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The only thing new they had in the movie was trying to get the men out of the ships that rolled over.


They made it seem like every weapon was super accurate. The worst lazy issue in the movie is not only did the Japanese NOT target the support ships there were MODERN SHIPS IN THE HARBOR. With today's CGI no one could look at a photo, scan it in and make an historically accurate ship?

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today's CGI


This was 15 years ago...




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Sorry for the confusion. It was a general statement and not meant to be literal. Since Jurassic Park/Independence Day the movie industry has had the ability to replicate accurate depictions.

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As stated before by others the support ships were hammered far more in the movie than in the real attack. The USS Texas was used in the film in part to stand in for the lost USS Oklahoma. The Texas had four two gun turrets which came through when the film was showing the Oklahoma capsizing as opposed to the Oklahoma's real configuration of two lower three gun turrets with two two gun upper turrets. The dark color of the Texas came thorough despite the Oklahoma having a lighter paint scheme on the day of the attack. A conning tower that would have been off of a Nevada or Pennsylvania class battleship is shown toppling on to the top deck of a battleship. Somebody could show me different but the only mast/ conning tower that came off would have been off of Oklahoma and that most likely toppled into the harbor after being far long in capsizing as opposed to what was shown in the movie. Also, I read an account that a number of Oklahoma sailors "walked" the capsizing to stand on the overturned hull and then jumped into rescue boats without the those sailors getting wet. Which is to say despite the chaos some were able to keep a cool head. From what i have read there was intentional strafing of sailors once those sailors were in the water. Just my opinion but the film made the Japanese aircraft look more concentrated in the areas of Battleship row and Hickam Field. In the real attack a substantial amount of Japanese aircraft focused on the Nevada as she was heading down the channel in escape. That mostly helped out ships such as the Pennsylvania which sustained light damage.

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I forgot to mention that the film shows a support vessel moored outward of the West Virginia into the harbor when Dorie Miller mans an anti-aircraft gun. In the real attack no such ship was moored to the outside of West Virginia which itself was moored to the outside of the Tennessee. When I watched yesterday it seemed the film did not show the repair ship Vestal moored along side of the Arizona but yesterday's showing may have been edited for time deleting any view of the Vestal.

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