M*A*S*H (1970)

M*A*S*H and Corona

The Corona update from me today is that, thankfully, we continue to do well. If you have been following news you may have noticed that schools have reopened in Denmark, at least up to 5^th grade. My son started in school yesterday and that was an odd experience. Lining up to get into the school with two meters between each child, half size classes, far between tables and reserved spaces during recess. I hope it will work out. On Monday hairdressers are reopening…

Anyway, on to today’s movie…

I grew up with “MASH”, the tv series. Hawkeye, Pierce, Radar, Klinger, Hot Lips and all. It was one of the best shows on television and even after filming had ended it continued to air for decades. We do not have flow-TV anymore at home so I am a bit out of touch but it would not surprise me if it is still taking turns on some network or another.

Familiar as I am with the TV series, I never saw the movie “MASH” (or “M*A*S*H” as it should be rightly called). In fact, I had no idea there even was a movie until fairly recently. While I at first sight was disappointed that is somewhat different from the TV series, it soon won me over and now the series stands a pale imitation of the original.

I sense there has been some criticism of “MASH”, the movie, but for my part I have to admit that this is entirely my kind of comedy.

“MASH” is different from anything else I have encountered on the List so far, not least in terms of storyline. There is not much of a plot, no story arch, but merely a series of small stories, tableaux or intermezzos. In a sense it feels like a season of a television series cooked down to a two-hour movie, not the other way round. This may be off-putting, as if the movie is not going anywhere, but it actually serves its purpose very neatly. “MASH” takes place in an army field hospital in Korea during the Korean war and life there in the hospital is not an adventure in itself but a continuous nightmare of dying and mutilated soldiers in need of medical care. In counterpoint to this the staff of doctors and nurses are getting by through very dark humor, sex and irreverent practical jokes. It is a continuous state, only punctuated by the daily ups and down.

The chaotic style of “MASH” is also novel. Lines on top of each other, several people speaking behind each other and all the characters in a scene engaged in something as if they are not entirely aware where exactly the cameras are, which I understand was often the case. The result is something far more dynamic and realistic feeling than anything seen so far and a style that was frequently copied up through the seventies. Besides being engaging it also served as a sounding board for the jokes, which became so much more effective by seeming to take place on a naturalistic background.

It is odd to consider a movie with life and death operations funny. It is irreverent and somewhat blasphemous, but that was another novel agenda of “MASH”. Nothing was too sacred to be made fun of. Nobody is above a joke and only self-righteousness is not tolerated. This anti-authoritarian style was very much the zeitgeist in 1970, but “MASH” took it further than anybody else, which made it both loved and despised intensely.

As I mentioned, this type of irreverent humor is totally my jam and I found it outrageously funny. One scene is about the dentist “Painless” (John Schuck) wanting to commit suicide because he thinks he has become impotent. Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John (Elliott Gould) setup an enactment of The Last Supper for Painless, exactly like the famous painting, including absolution before giving him a pill as he settles into his coffin. Then Hawkeye convinces the hottest dish of the nurses to attend the very well endowed dentist in his “death” state. Next morning Painless is up and around, very happy and the nurse leaves with a smile. The allegory is obvious, blasphemous and hilariously funny and entirely typical of the movie.

It is a wonder “MASH” got released at all. Fox hated it and wanted to shut it down, but the audience loved it and the audience is always right. “MASH” got nominated for 5 Oscars. It also gets one from me.