“I reject your reality and substitute my own” – Adam Savage
Is a realistic representation in film is one which accurately and flawlessly imitates the world around us? When considering that cinema is inherently a fictitious medium, a paradoxical element emerges. This Friday, Relativity Media brings us the recruitment-video-turned-featu re-film Act of Valor, which claims to be one of the most accurate war films ever, starring real life Navy SEALs and boasting taglines such as “Real heroes. Real tactics. Real action. This is no game.” and “The Real Navy SEAL Movie.”
Simply because we have true-life combatants populating the cast in no way means that the movie will organically mimic real-world combat. These men have experienced gunfire, bloodshed and death, but the audience will likely not feel the same, even if the “actors” behave more believably than a Hollywood thesp. In honor of that action release, Player Affinity will wax a little more philosophically than usual, and explore what cinematic realism means – if anything.
Excellent article.