How "Fury" captured what it's like to be a member of a military unit better than any other war movie.

I'm not a movie critic, nor am I a seasoned cult fanatic. I couldn't tell you the merits of what makes a biopic better than a triple-A blockbuster, nor could I quote you many (if any) movie references. Yet, after watching Sony's "Fury" a few times though, I feel compelled to express how deeply this movie resonated with me from the standpoint of a former US Infantryman.

It's possible that before I watched Fury I didn't realize how many war movies failed to capture what the real experience is like for soldiers in the day-to-day grind. From an outsiders perspective you would assume that the goal of a military movie is to capture the main points in broad strokes: adrenaline fueled combat scenes, text book battle of the "so and so" references, and a lot of half-hearted emotional "brothers in arms" scenes with canned clichés and romanticized quotes. Most of which fail to actually capture the true experience of what it's like to be a part of a small military fighting squad -- like the squad from Fury’s 3rd platoon.

Some of the most magical scenes in the movie reside in each soldiers recounting of how their squad met. When Gordo tries to (somewhat) console Norman after SSgt. Don makes him shoot an SS soldier, he recounts that their squad has been together “since France”, and that he “wouldn’t fight with anyone else”. Also, a bit earlier in the film you have Bible and Grady joking about having sex with local German women, and Bible tells SSgt. Don that “we’ve been doing this for 3 years now Top”.

These small references to the past help paint a picture of how close each member of the squad feels to one another, which is important because the movie drops you directly into the action with little reference to any one soldiers backstory, or any prologue to where they are, or what they’ve been through in these battles. I couldn’t help but feel like these actors had a genuine history with one another, and it’s a testament to great writing and impeccable acting. The interpersonal relationship with each soldier was captured through the small things, like when Grady was play fighting with Bible and giving him a hard time over his religious beliefs. It's like when your older brother picked on you and poked his finger in your face to the point where, like Bible, you tell him to fuck off.

The protagonist, Norman, also helps to act as a vessel and really bring the viewer directly into the squad as a new member, which is an important narrative tool. I know from first-hand experience how difficult it is for a new squad member to “click” with the current members. This squad... this close five member unit shares a lot of history amongst one another and it’s very difficult to not only gain the trust of your new squad members but to also build a new history with the squad as a whole. This rings true during the second act (the infamous “Horse Slaughter” scene), when Gordo laments to Norman that “you weren’t there”, when detailing the explicit depictions of what how their squad killed horses.

Overall, I feel like the main take-away from the movie wasn’t about WWII, or about some specific battle (this was a fictional battle after-all). Instead, it was an accurate representation of what so many war movies seem to feign, or fail to capture entirely, which is the bond that you form when you live with these men for so long. When you fight with them, go through the shit with them, joke with them, scream and cry with them. The closest relationships that I’ve ever had in my life where with my squad-mates during my time in the service. A group of 5, rag-tag “not quite stable” social dropouts who all managed to come together under one collective unit. Each assigned a specific task and job, relying on each other for everything. There is no movie that quite captures, in my humble opinion, what it is like to be in a military squad quite like Fury.

The “consensus” quote on Rotten Tomatoes claims “Overall, Fury is a well-acted, suitably raw depiction of the horrors of war that offers visceral battle scenes but doesn't quite live up to its larger ambitions.”. What larger ambitions would those be? To be a romanticized soap opera flick like Pearl Harbor? Or to be an accurate depiction of what it’s like to really be a solider. To live the real day to day “suck” like a solider does? I guess that’s the difficult thing about trying to critique an accurate portrayal of a movie based on war, you have to have experienced it to be able to properly comment on it.