War Games

By Gerard Clarke

MANOEUVRE Starting March, PBS

If war is hell, armies must be able to stand the heat, and that means intensive training. Every autumn the NATO alliance conducts full-scale field maneuvers in West Germany, which has the misfortune of being the front line between East and West. No one is hurt in these war games, except by accident, but they are not exactly fun either. Every effort is made to duplicate the real thing: actual forces clash by day and night, and umpires determine who would have killed whom. It is a natural subject for the cinema verite technique of Frederick Wiseman (Canal Zone, Titicut Follies), and the only thing lacking in Manoeuvre is the smell of commingled sweat and exhaust.

Wiseman looked at the 1978 exercises, grandiloquently titled Operation Autumn Forge, through the eyes of an American infantry tank company. He flew with them from their base at Fort Polk, La., attended the ceremonies welcoming them to Germany and then followed them into the field. His camera makes no judgments, but the Pentagon should be happy with the result: American soldiers may have the foulest mouths in the world but, for the most part, they seem also to be intelligent and hardworking.

There are slow moments in Wiseman's two hours, but that is probably the price for this kind of documentary, which allows people to be themselves. "I wish I was a soldier coming through here in World War II," muses one man, ogling the local girls from his tank turret. "I'll bet they got what they wanted. Probably didn't have to ask for it either." At an early briefing, a commanding officer calmly sends his subordinates off to battle: "That's my last word. Be professional, and let it all hang out." A few days later, problems have arisen, and he is less amiable. "By God," he says, "either you do it, or I'll find a job for you in the tiddlywink factory. I hope I've made myself clear. I ain't talkin' to hear my head rattle."

The visitors have been told to be polite to their hosts, and there is one scene of high comedy in which a line of tanks is held up by a lone farmer with a shovel. "We've got a population problem," an officer blandly radios to headquarters. "There's a German national up here who won't let us through."

At the end of the games, the Americans from Louisiana have helped to turn back the aggressors. There is, however, still a dispute between two of the tank drivers and an umpire, who has disallowed one of their theoretical kills. If this was a real war, they complain, they would be dead. He retorts: "You mean to tell me if this was a real war, you'd belivin'?"

--G.C.

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