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The Pacific DVD Set
The Pacific DVD Set is a compilation of discs containing the epic HBO miniseries created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. It is set in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and follows the experiences of three individual Marines throughout their personal ordeals during the battle against the Empire of Japan for control of the Pacific. While all three men were United States Marines, they served in different units of the US 1st Marine Division. The film is based on the book The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose, son of accomplished historian Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers. The author has stated that his aim was to present a complete account of the history of the Pacific War, but do it through the eyes of the men that did the fighting, as opposed to the “Monday morning quarterback” views of a historian. While the story does provide some of that perspective, its strengths lie mainly with the narrative of the men who slogged it out on the beaches and in the jungles of the theater.
The collaboration between Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg is one of the things that make this film so great. They already have extensive experience working together creating historical and war movies. Saving Private Ryan was their first, and turned out to be the gold standard in WW II films. Although the characters in that film were fictitious, the setting was real and these two gentlemen recreated the battles with remarkable accuracy. Their second endeavor in war films together produced the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, based on the book of the same name. This film was based on the factual experiences of a single American Airborne unit from their training in the US, to the Normandy invasion, to the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. Again, Hanks and Spielberg were exceptional in their portrayal of these real accounts of history. Both of these films reminded the world of the difficulties faced by soldiers fighting the threat of Hitler in Europe, and it only made sense to visit the horrible struggle of the men and women who fought in the Pacific against Japan.
The film, and ultimately, The Pacific DVD set, came together by chronicling the lives of these three men, Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge. The battle starts in Guadalcanal in the deep, and hostile jungles, then moves on to the brutal five month struggle for Cape Gloucester to capture Japanese airfields on the island. The next epic battle takes the Marines to Peleliu, for an amphibious invasion of a heavily fortified island. Their next campaign, one of the most famous and bloody of the entire war, was fought on the black volcanic sands of Iwo Jima. Finally the 1st Marines were tasked in the invasion of Okinawa, which turned out to be the biggest amphibious invasion of the war. This was one of the bloodiest struggles of the conflict, in which during the 82 day encounter, over 12 thousand Americans were killed or missing. Finally, the conclusion of the film takes place after the Japanese surrender. The three Marines return home to experience the challenges of healing from wounds and re-entering civilian life after a long and difficult 5 years of war.
The Pacific DVD set contains 6 discs in box set format and has a run time of 400 minutes. In addition to the 10 part main film, the DVD set includes 3 additional programs, including Profiles in the Pacific, a closer look at the real Marines themselves, Making the Pacific, a documentary about the filming of the movie, and finally, Anatomy of the Pacific War, a historical synopsis of the battle against Japan for control of the Pacific Ocean.