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April 17, 2014 at 8:36 pm #393Mary LindenParticipant
Review of The Sand Pebbles
After reading epics in various English classes, I wasn’t sure how the epic structure would translate to film; I assumed that such lengthiness would fail to engage a modern audience, but The Sand Pebbles proved me wrong. The film’s slow pace did not cause the story to drag on or lose focus, but rather, succeeded in that it allowed a fullness to develop in both character and plot. Keeping consistent with story’s epic scale, I thought that Jerry Goldsmith’s dramatic soundtrack complemented the film well, and helped to move plot along in moments when it could’ve gone stagnant. As Cortney noted in her review, The Sand Pebbles certainly takes its time, and it does so effectively, I think, as I found myself becoming very invested in Jake Holman’s world.
As he is the film’s protagonist, it wasn’t surprising that I was most engaged with the character of Jake Holman. I enjoyed his development–it was treated with subtly and, maybe due to the leisurely pace of the film, felt gradual and natural. Steve McQueen mastered this change in character, and managed to avoid the heavy-handed main character epiphanies that we often see at the end of films. I thought McQueen’s performance was consistent and authentic-feeling—he indulges in the image of a typical American sailor while also using enough nuance to push Jake Holman’s character beyond that of a caricature. Jake Holman is believable because he never has to explain how he’s changed; rather, he reveals his growth through action (taking mercy by shooting his friend, sacrificing himself to save Shirley, lending Frenchy money for Maily, etc.).
As far as the more marginal characters in the film, most of them fell somewhere in between feeling authentic and feeling like caricatures. The Chinese crew, Po-han especially, was often exaggerated in a seemingly racist way, though this is hard to assess given the year of production as well as the time period that the film was trying to capture. I strongly agree with Cortney’s assertion that Candice Bergen’s character was unlikeable. Shirley seemed excessively wholesome and positive, even for a missionary teacher, but maybe her character was intentionally exaggerated to create some sort of contrast next to Jake Holman.
I felt that the end of The Sand Pebbles was both jarring and satisfying, as we are left with an unsettling scene of war: our main character dies away from his ship, in a mostly empty, dimly lit courtyard. Though Jake Holman does die heroically, sacrificing himself to save another human, his death resonates more with confusion than it does with glory. His last words are “What the hell happened?” leaving us with a lack of resolve. I thought the entire scene was suggestive of uncomfortable conflict, a possible reflection of the political climate of the 1960s: tense, devastating and unresolved. In keeping consistent with the nature of an epic, The Sand Pebbles leaves us with a tragedy, a tragedy that is complicated enough to trace positive human development while also interweaving the larger questions of a country at war.The Sand Pebbles. Dir. Robert Wise. 20th Century Fox, 1966. Film.
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