Directed by Mary Pat Kelley. Starring Ossie Davis, Albert Jones, Jeffrey Nash, Denise Nicholas, Eric Laray Harvey. Synopsis:A historical drama about some of the real life sailors on the USS Mason, the first and only all African American crew warship to engage the Germans in World War II.
This is a feel good, relatively low budget historical film that portrays some of the actual sailors from the USS Mason, an all African American crew warship that saw action and performed well in World War II, but were not official recognized for their actions until a half century later.
The film is told in flashback, with the late, venerable, and wonderful Ossie Davis (an actual World War II vet himself, but not on the Mason) , being a grandfather who is at his wits end with his grandson's habit of listening to loud hip-hop music (which Ossie's character refers to as "noise", a scene that any of us who have been on both sides of the generation gap will appreciate) with his college buddies late at night when Ossie is trying to get some sleep. He tries to culturally upgrade the youngsters in the form of Billie Holliday records, and soon the talk turns to his service in World War II, something he had not spoken of much to his grandson before, and soon we are in a flashback to 1944 with, in a neat little twist, the actors portraying Ossie's grandson and buddies are the same actors portraying a young Ossie and his buddies on the Mason.
The story touches on the racism encountered by the men, both covert and subtle, but it does not portray to the depth or length of a movie like the Tuskeegee Airmen or Glory, the focus here is more on the young men involved and their thoughts, hopes, and pride in serving their country, as well as the dreams for the postwar.
The ship and battle sequences are o.k., part of that is the fact that, of the three types of warfare to film, naval is by far the hardest, especially without a huge budget. Real footage of WWII naval battles is used, although I am not sure it is footage of the actual Mason. The acting is decent, most of the faces will be new to most viewers, with the exception of Ossie Davis, of course, and the still striking Denise Nicholas from Room 222 and In the Heat of the Night fame.
What I liked is that the director gave some screen time to the modern day part of the story, the struggle by the members and their descendants to get long overdue recognition in the form of a unit commendation, including some actual footage of actual Mason sailors receiving their recognition from then President Clinton.
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