Book Review Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies General Editor: Mark C. Carnes, A Society of American Historians Book, Henry Holt and Company, Publisher, 304 pages, $30.00 Review by Jeff Burman Perhaps the most powerful effect the cinema has on us is its ability to reshape history. Whether it's 'Spartacus', 'Gone With the Wind', 'The Grapes of Wrath' or 'Bonnie and Clyde', we can't help but remember the past through the powerful lens of Hollywood. Are these fair renderings of history? That question is put to a cadre of noted historians in 'Past Imperfect'. The result is a fascinating look at the sometime uneasy alliance between history and Hollywood. Gore Vidal takes Preston Sturges to task on 'Sullivan's Travels'. Arthur Schlesinger stalks balefully through 'The Front Page'. Dee Brown, author of 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, skewers Fort Apache'. Eric Foner, shedding light on 'Matewan', notes that history is difficult to frame within the requirements of drama and cinema. So how do the studios do with their history? More often than not Hollywood gets two things right: period costumes and weaponry. But too often historical conflicts are reduced to formula. Historian Richard Slotkin assaults 'Charge of the Light Brigade', saying that the frontier myth, transposed here to the Crimean War, is reduced to a conventional "racial struggle between savage Indians and civilized whites for control of an undeveloped New World." For that matter, 'Gone With the Wind' can be seen as a "plantation film" which "portrayed happy-go-lucky darkies loyal to benevolent masters," says historian Catherine Clinton. Sadly, "this view dominated the study of U.S. history during the first half of this century." Jurassic Park Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' falls prey to several stunning critiques. Stephen Jay Gould, professor of Zoology at Harvard University, reminds us that the dinosaurs in Michael Crichton's book, on which the film is based, existed during the Cretaceous period, not the Jurassic. But Gould has more fundamental bones to pick with Crichton. One is the oversimplified role of science in our popular culture. Reviving these creatures, as described by Crichton, is simply impossible. DNA is complex, fragile and decomposable. Even if a complete set of dino DNA could be found, there would still have to be the proper "maternal environment" for the embryo to reach maturity. Says Gould: "History is the tale of unique and contingent items functioning as emergent wholes. We must debunk the silly idea that scientists are wizards ... we must study organisms at their own level, in all their multifariousness and interactive complexity." Gould also finds a resilient Hollywood cliché at work in 'Jurassic Park'. It's the predominant theme of the power of science v. the hubris of man. Put more melodramatically, man must not tread in the kingdom of God. Crichton, in his book version of 'Jurassic Park', argues that the park must fail, spectacularly and unpredictably, because the fail-safe systems are too interdependent. Since human error and system failure are inevitable, the whole house of cards will come tumbling down. One cannot predict or control nature, just as one cannot simplify or contain history. It's just too complex. In the film version, the park's failure is rendered as a penalty for violating a God-given natural order, says Gould. When, in the film, John Hammond counterposes "revivification" to save California condors with his manufacturing of dinosaurs, Ian Malcolm agrees with saving the condors - their jeopardy is an unnatural act of human folly - but objects to "saving" the dinosaurs. "Dinosaurs had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction," he states. Gould argues against this point, reasoning that natural selection may well have favored ravaging dinosaurs over smaller mammals, especially if judged aside from changes in climate, a consideration that, arguably, is less than natural in its causes. All the President's Men 'Past Imperfect' also examines slices of more recent history. 'All the President's Men', blue penciled by historian William Leuchtenburg, offers an intriguing parallel to our recent presidential scandals. Leuchtenburg says the movie is often "accurate without being true. Although it rarely invents facts or episodes, 'All the President's Men' does misinterpret the events that culminated in Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation. In this rendering of history, two rakish reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, expose the crimes and cover-ups that jolted America in the early '70s. Leuchtenburg reminds us that many other courageous individuals stood by their guns, particularly one Alexander Butterfield, who revealed the existence of Nixon's secret Oval Office recordings. These tapes would eventually provide the "smoking gun" that capsized the Nixon presidency, even though Nixon's remarkable venality and deceptions ultimately sealed his own fate. Leuchtenburg chides the film's director, Alan Pakula, and screenwriter, William Goldman, by fundamentally disagreeing with their premise. Woodward and Bernstein didn't cause the President's fall; "collective action drove Nixon from power." While earlier films "romanticized the press, 'All the President's Men' was the first motion picture to suggest that the press was more important than the subjects it covered." 'Past Imperfect' is a wonderful nonlinear book of short essays and photographs, enriching our understanding of both history and filmmaking.   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 20, No. 2 - March/April 1999   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1999, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700