Flyboys

Flyboys (2006) is about young American men who go to France in 1916 to train and fly with the Lafayette Escadrille. The movie reeks of DGI even in scenes where digital effects aren’t needed—in wheat fields, for instance. The only parts of the film where it seems to work are the aerial battle scenes. These scenes bring welcome respite in this over long film from the pervasive and predictable drudgery that otherwise prevails.

This is not a very original or creative film. It begins with brief scenes showing young Americans preparing to travel to France—one goes because the town sheriff tells him to get out of town; another goes because his rich father shames him into going; a third goes for the fun and glory, and so on. There’s a black American prize fighter in Paris who decides to enlist in the Escadrille out of gratitude to France for its kind treatment of him.

Once the boys arrive at training camp, the inevitable conflicts and challenges occur. They form friendships. One of them asks not to room with the black man but later becomes his friend. They meet the grizzled and bitter pilot who has lost all his friends in battle. They are told that the average life of an Escadrille pilot is six weeks. Two go up in a plane to practice flying and crash land in a field and then wake up in a whorehouse. One falls in love with a French farm girl. We know that as soon as they have their first taste of battle, they will start dying, one by one. Who will die and who will survive?

One of the boys, a devout Christian who prays before each mission, sings “Onward Christian Soldiers” at the top of his lungs as he shoots at Germans. His piety doesn’t help him in the end.

In a highly unlikely scene, one of the pilots crashes his plane in the no-man’s land between French and German trenches. The plane overturns and he is trapped underneath. His friend lands his plans somewhere nearby and runs through heavy fusillades of artillery and gunfire to rescue him, sawing off his hand to free him from the plane. They run for the French trench and live. Later in the film, the handless pilot fits himself with a hook and continues flying. My guess is that this film stretches or ignores the historical facts often.

Some of the air battle scenes look impossible, though they are apparently modeled on actual films of World War I aerial combat.

Aerial combat in World War I is a natural subject for film, especially given the possibilities that modern special effects provide for portraying spectacular air battles. It’s surprising no one has thought to make a film on the subject for decades. Flyboys is long enough and dull enough to ensure that no one will do so again for at least another several decades.