This morning, going to the office, I hear on the radio that today is the 35 anniversary of the release of the film "Officer and Gentleman". An "old" film, relating it to today's times in our society and reflecting on cinema, but which in me (and I think in many others) has a special place.
In the 1982, when the film came out, I was only a pre-adolescent boy and obviously I was almost exclusively interested in films like the ones in the "Star Wars" saga, but I remember that I stayed between the bewildered and the perplexed for the a fury that such a film was enjoying among the mushy comments and romantic dreams induced in pre-marital girls.
7 years later I became an Army officer, without having seen that film yet, but having to measure myself (as a pupil) with a very hard training under all physical and psychological points of view.
And since it was not enough for me to become "simply" an officer, but I wanted to excel to present myself with an unexceptionable resume in the competition for the Aeronautical Academy, the conquest of the lieutenant of the Infantry of Arresto was particularly painful for me, but I did it . Then entering the Aeronautical Academy as a pilot student, I found a very different environment, always very hard (though otherwise) but much more elitist and refined.
Someone may think that all these special tests must have demolished my cerebral heritage and now that the 50 years approach is approaching, I am turning into nostalgic and self-celebratory tales.
It is not so. Or if there has been brain damage, this is not explicit.
Of so much filmography (more or less directly sponsored by the armed forces of the country of origin) seen on military topics, "Officer and gentleman" is the only film that really comes close to reality.
Perhaps a reality of other times, but certainly a reality very close to the one I knew and many other soldiers who have gone from experiences similar to mine. Including that of having lost a classmate who refused, along with life, a career in which he felt compelled (although I think for reasons other than those of the film).
I have no idea how things are today within the walls of official schools, and certainly many things will have changed, but "Officer and Gentleman" is a film that I always see again and that has a reserved place on my DVD shelf. It speaks of my dreams of a boy, of monstrous sacrifices faced, of a profuse commitment to noble intentions, of feelings (certainly not those of romantic girls) and of suffering in order to achieve a high goal from all points of view.
A film that is not beautiful to be revised only with a "nostalgic" spirit: a film that would do well to be seen both by those young people who feel cut off from a prestigious future, and by those spoiled clowns who do not know what it means to conquer a uniform, but which also have among their vices the "perpetual carnival".
Yes, because among the various cancers of contemporary society there are also those who have not understood that the uniform (be it an elegant suit or a combat camouflage) must be conquered. And since it is not an easy conquest it must be respected even without waiting for the Civil Code to make it an obligation: it is not enough to be enrolled in a "soft-air" club or a virtual airline on a flight simulator in order to feel worthy of the uniform and to rub it abusively.
A uniform can still allow a quality young person who cannot afford either the "Soft-air" membership or the virtual airline to REALLY become someone.
This is the meaning I see in that movie. For the rest of the review, with all the details and film references, I suggest you search on Wikipedia or similar sites, there are and I could never write about them.
Good vision to those who want to re / see this old film from another point of view!
Andrea Troncone
