Hugh Laurie is going to be taking one of the starring roles in the Hulu series Catch-22 that’s going to be directed and also will be co-starring George Clooney. The film is going to be set in the WWII era so you know it’s going to be something a little gritty, a little dark, and possibly shot in the vein of something that borders on the line of depressing and engaging all at the same time. Such shows and films are usually custom-built for a select bunch of viewers but they tend to pull in others who at least want to take a look and decided if they happen to like it or just have a passing interest. With the cast it’s supposed to have it might entice them to do more than just take a glance.
Here’s the gist of the story:
Set in Italy during World War II, Catch-22 is the story of the incomparable, artful dodger Yossarian (Christopher Abbott), a bombardier for the U.S. Air Force, who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy, but rather his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty.
How’s that for irony? A guy would have to be nuts to fly combat missions when the statistics of such duty clearly showed back then that the longer one went out into the field the less likely it was that they would come back. And yet if they decided to request a removal from their duties it would mean that they were clearly sane and could not qualify for removal based on the idea that he was making a sane and rational choice. In other words, ‘son you’re crazy to keep going out there.’ ‘you’re right sir. I’m requesting a transfer from active duty.’ ‘son if you’re requesting a transfer then you’re of sound mind and can serve your country, now gear up and get back in the cockpit.’
Can you imagine someone trying to nail a pilot with this? It’s okay if they’re willing to risk their lives but they must be nuts for doing so. Yet if they try to keep themselves out of danger then they’re sane and should be sent right back in. The movie already sounds like it’s going to be one that sets the viewers against the bureaucrats that seem to always make the rules without understanding what they do to the people that have to follow them. In other words it should be interesting.
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