The Re-Creation of the World War II Scenes - Essay Example

The re-creation of the war scenes was very impressive as some of the scenes were exactly as photographed on an unfortunate day on December 7, 1941.

We have learned in our courses that at the time of the attack, Japan was still in peace talks with America. And the attack was a complete surprise. This is very well depicted in the movie. The president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, emphasizes Nazi Germany as the main enemy and how America needs to support Winston Churchill (Britain) and Stalin (Russia) by sending men and weapons. Japan is not treated as a threat at all and Europe is seen as the main danger. Also, it is depicted in the movie how the American strategists believe that Pearl Harbor can not be attacked due to its geographical isolation. One scene that stands out in this context is when a soldier states that he did not even know that Japan was sore against the US.

We have learned that there were some warnings about Japan attacking Pearl Harbor. But America ignored all the warnings because of its overconfidence. This is shown in many instances in the movie where the top brass of the military ignores these warnings. Also, the Japanese attitude and their thinking behind the attack are well shown. The Japanese feared that their oil stock was running out and they had to find alternate sources of oil. The US already had stopped various trades and Japan feared that there would be oil would also stop. So they thought this attack would give them complete control over the pacific.

We have also studied how the US had not been directly involved in the war and the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the US to officially enter World War II. The speech from President Franklin D. Roosevelt declaring the war is shown in the movie and well pictured. It shows how it inspired the countrymen and got everyone involved in the war. Until there wasn’t a common stand about entering the war congress was not sure about officially declaring the war. But the attack lead to everyone agreeing to enter the war and the US officially declared war against the empire of Japan and condemned the Japanese government for deceiving America with its false statements and talks for peace. This is shown in the President’s speech in the movie. Also, we have learned that Franklin D. Roosevelt was an inspiring and great leader and the movie shows the character aptly.

The movie “Pearl Harbor” relates to what we have learned in the course HIST 8B and to some extent gives the first-hand experience of the attack with its visuals.