M.A.S.H.

M.A.S.H.; war / comedy, USA, 1970; D: Robert Altman, S: Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, Bud Cort


Korean war. MASH is an acronym for "mobile army surgical hospital". Doctors Hawkeye and Duke enter one military camp barely 3 miles away from the battle front with the assignment to treat the wounded, but they rather prefer having fun. Hawkeye steals a jeep right at the start and meets the religious fanatic Major Frank, whom he puts a microphone under his bed while he has intercourse with a female Major, Margaret. Hawkeye also quickly befriends Doctor Trapper John in whom he finds a soul mate, even going with him on a special mission in Tokyo to operate an important wounded man. They even organize a football game. Hawkeye and Duke get dismissed and return home.

Antiwar satire "MASH" is a real antipode of its genre, demolishing patriotism and authoritarianism, but it became the most commercial film in Robert Altman's career, gained cult status and inspired a popular TV show with the same title. The story is episodic, shaky, sometimes even messy, unfocused and not that funny, but excellent actors, among them Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, satirical mockery and a small addition of meta-references at the end where an announcer is speaking through the loud speaker about the cast and crew ("You've been watching "MASH", a film starring Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt...") give it a high reputation. The whole style and set of gags are entirely relaxed and surprisingly wacky for an ambitions movie like this: when Hawkeye and Duke meet the religious fanatic, Major Frank, praying, they jokingly ask him how long he "has been suffering from these symptoms". Later, they remove the "wall" while Major Margaret is showering, exposing her to the staff. It's not an accident the film influenced a bunch of mainstream comedies about mischievous heroes fighting the establishment, like "Police Academy" or "Stripes". There are a lot of deeply serious elements throughout the film, but Altman always keeps up the cheerful tone of his characters trying to create optimistic escapism in order to run away from the bitter reality of war and death, depression and anxiety: by fishing, playing golf, presenting themselves as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" during surgery, or even when a nurse scratches a doctor who complained his nose was itching. To make everything even more daring, Altman had almost every reference to the Korean war erased, deliberately trying to confuse it with the Vietnam war which was going on back in those days. Some moments are slightly dated today, though: for instance, when dentist Walter fears he might be becoming impotent or a "latent homosexual" because he couldn't perform it with one woman, he wants to commit suicide (?), so Hawkeye stages a farewell dinner, framed like da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper", and then sends a nurse to have sex with Walter to "cure him", but one cannot shake away the feeling Walter's whole motivation for this is a bit silly and far-fetched.

Grade:+++