Troops in Spielberg Film Get Sneak Preview

FORT DRUM, N.Y. - They've hunted down terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, opposed rebels in Bosnia and battled warlords in Somalia. Now, 10th Mountain Division troops are facing off against Martian invaders — with no less than the fate of the Earth in the balance.

The soldiers were called on by Steven Spielberg, who picked Fort Drum troops to star in his remake of the H.G. Wells classic "War of the Worlds." The movie, starring Tom Cruise, opens nationwide Wednesday, but the actor-soldiers were treated to a sneak preview Monday night at the post movie theater.

"It feels awesome to help save the world," said Sgt. Christopher Lumpiesz, of Tampa, Fla., who gets to help shoot down a Martian ship in the movie.

Lumpiesz, who saw real combat in Afghanistan, was one of 42 10th Mountain Division soldiers who play roles in two scenes in the movie. Other military units from the Army and Marines appear in the movie as well.

Thirty-two of those watched the movie Monday night, along with a capacity crowd of special guests. The other 10 soldiers were on leave or have been reassigned since the scenes were shot in the first week of December in upstate New York and Connecticut.

"Spielberg wanted real soldiers to make the scenes more authentic. He was quite impressed. You don't get any more Army than the 10th Mountain Division," said Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, the post's public affairs officer. "This is a reward to soldiers who have been among our best, and it's a way to showcase the American military."

After the special showing, the soldiers were called up on stage for a curtain call.

Spc. Kenneth Wright, of Bakersfield, Calif., and Staff Sgt. Aaron Dewitt, of Perrysville, Ohio, agreed that it was a chance for America's soldiers to get some added recognition. But for the time being, they prefer to soak up their celebrity status.

"It's been a whirlwind to be part of it. My mom didn't believe me at first when I told her I met Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg and Dakota Fanning," said Wright. "Now she's stoked about it. Everybody in my family is going to go see me ... I mean the movie."

It's not the first time the 10th Mountain Division has made it to the silver screen. The division's historic rescue of Army Rangers in Somalia in 1993 was chronicled in the book "Black Hawk Down," which was made into a 2001 movie by director Ridley Scott.

Since its reactivation in 1985, the 10th Mountain Division has been the nation's most-deployed military force. Fort Drum troops also have served in the Persian Gulf War, in Florida providing relief to victims of Hurricane Andrew, and in Haiti, Kosovo and more than a dozen other countries.

June 28, 2005
"War of the Worlds" Spielberg-esque Message: Don't Fight Terror

By Debbie Schlussel

I'm violating Steven Spielberg's review policy for "War of the Worlds" and telling you what I think ahead of tomorrow's scheduled release date. I saw the movie at a press screening, last night, and was disturbed by the message: Don't fight terror, and everything will work out. (In contrast, Spielberg definitely fights for his own interests. Security was literally tighter than that for going to the White House to meet the President. No purses allowed. Three wandings by security.)

It's bad enough that Steven Spielberg is adding "balance" and factual inaccuracy to the story of the Israeli Mossad's efforts to assassinate terrorists who killed Israeli Olympic athletes--in his upcoming film, "Vengeance" (I've detailed that here). It's bad enough that his message in "Vengeance" is that fighting terrorists and killing them is bad and doesn't work. But his similar message in "War of the Worlds" is arguably worse--because the movie, with fantastic special effects, is likely to be one of his bigger hits.

Spielberg said "War of the Worlds" is a parallel for 9/11 and serves as a "prism" through which to view 9/11, the War on Terror, and our presence in Iraq. The movie makes that very clear. People running from exploding and falling buildings, walls and kiosks covered with "missing" signs and pictures for those looking for lost relatives, people giving blood -- these are all 9/11 references.

But the message is: Don't fight terrorism. It will miraculously go away if you leave it alone and it breaths our air and culture. Puh-leeze. I'm sure Roger Ebert will just love it.

SPOILER ALERT: Not a big spoiler, but stop reading here, if you don't want to know about a part of the movie.

Soldiers, with their tanks, hummers, and assorted weapons are wasting their time fighting the alien terrorists. Their hummers come back empty and on fire.

For a significant part of the movie, Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) and his daughter are holed up in an old basement with Ogilvy (Tim Robbins). Robbins' character wants to fight the outer-space invaders or at least die trying. Ray doesn't want to. He just wants to be silent and wait it out. Because he and Ogilvy are at odds over the strategy to fight the alien terrorists, Ray murders Ogilvy. And magically, the invaders eventually die and go away at the end of the film because, as narrator Morgan Freeman says, they could not handle the bad things in our air, our environment, our culture. Our "spirit" won out over them.

But "spirit" alone does not beat terrorists. Fighting them does. And that involves going on the offense. Terrorists don't just give up and disappear. They are not aliens who can't handle our air. Hello? They live among us--they're of the same species.

Screenwriter David Koepp says, "Certainly, there are a lot of political undertones and overtones. The political tones of this movie will emerge for themselves. In the '50s, 'War of the Worlds' was, 'My God, the commies are coming to get us.' Now it's about fear of terrorism. In other parts of the world, the new movie will be fear of American invasion. It will be clearly about the Iraq war for them," Koepp told the Chicago Sun-Times.

This outrageous statement is the Hollywood thinking. Yes, we evil Americans are like the murderous aliens in "War of the Worlds" to the people of Iraq. Forget about guys like Capt. Jon Powers, 27, who spent 420 days in Iraq, but instead of going home after he left the Army, is still there--on a mission to help the street children and orphans of Baghdad. In contrast, there are no kind aliens in Spielberg's "War of the Worlds."

Then, there is Tim Robbins. His character, Ogilvy, says occupations "never succeed ... . local insurgencies always bring you down." Gee there's no agenda there, right? Isn't this the same Tim Robbins, universal sensitive man and girlfriend to Susan Sarandon, who has tiraded against Bush and the War on Terror everywhere that will have him (excluding Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame, thankfully)? Why, yes, it is.

Robbins says the movie's message is "how any kind of terror can change a peace-loving person in an instant." So now we are "war-mongers" because we've chosen to fight terrorism, instead of giving in to it, like the lucky idiots, a la Tom Cruise, in this movie?

That's exactly what Spielberg, Robbins, and their "War of the Worlds" want you to think. Ignore terrorism. Don't fight it. Stop being so "militant," and it will go away.

And magically, the invaders eventually die and go away at the end of the film because, as narrator Morgan Freeman says, they could not handle the bad things in our air, our environment, our culture. Our "spirit" won out over them.,/i>

I will take your word for it and am sad to hear there taking this spin... the breathing our air of course in true to the original story (they died from earth germs) but this spirit stuff(let sit on our ass and let our good vibes beat them) is a load of crap

How can someone that seem to to get the harsh reality of the world in a Private Ryan & Shindler List turn around and put out the "Moral of the story"(sit on your ass with good vibes and they go away) spin you describe in War of th Worlds...it's illogical... good vibes can no more stop an alien then a Nazi or a Jihads...Sit on you ass in a basement and hope they go away thinking is what got 6 million of Spielberg fellow Jews killed along with up to 74 million others ...(total est:up to 80 million killed in WW2)

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