Red Tails

Italy in 1944: a group of African-American fighter pilots have been stationed at Ramatelli Airfield as part of the Tuskegee Experiment, from which they are allowed to fight for their country. While many racist stalwarts in the Army are still convinced that white soldiers can fight better and smarter, the Tuskegee Airmen are supposed to show that African Americans can also fight for freedom and justice with courage, intelligence and technical skills. True, the pilots are not allowed to fight on the front lines, but must settle for simple control flights and cleanup missions. But when the Tuskegee Airmen succeed in inflicting serious damage on the enemy, the pilots of Red Tails Fliegerstaffel fight for the chance to prove their skills in a real air battle. But after the first great success, the soldiers have to realize that their courage is not only not really appreciated in their own country. The Germans, too, now have a new enemy that must be destroyed at all costs: the Red Tails!

For over twenty years, Star Wars mastermind George Lucas has dreamed of bringing the story of the Tuskegee Airmen to the big screen on an epic scale. After quite a few script variations and failed attempts, in Red Tails, with the help of director Anthony Hemingway (The Wire), he confines himself to only a fairly small but hugely important part of that story. As you'd expect with a George Lucas production, the technical execution is far above the story. The primarily computer-generated flight battles are then also extremely spectacular and rousing and certainly belong to the best that there has been in the war movie genre in this regard on the screen so far.

If even nearly as much effort had gone into the dramaturgy and the development of the characters, then Red Tails could have been a really good film. But as soon as the flying squadron is back on the ground, stencil-like drawn characters, a superficial black and white painting in the representation of good and evil, as well as never-ending clichés dominate the action. This is true for the relationship between Joe Lightning Little (David Oylowo) and the Italian Sofia (Daniela Ruah), with whom he falls in love from his plane (!), as well as for his confrontation with white soldiers in an officers' club or the fight of Colonel A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard) in the Pentagon against racist prejudices. Always, as a viewer, you have the feeling that you can anticipate the next situation or its consequence, or that you can speak along with various dialogues.

Although there are some well-acted moments and a certain entertainment value arises here and there, the film itself simply remains pale and superficial despite its spectacular battle sequences. Hemingway simply doesn't succeed in bringing the characters close to the audience in such a way that their fate really touches them. Losses are accepted just as emotionless as successes of the Red Tails squadron. If you take a closer look at the real background, it's easy to understand why George Lucas was so passionate about this project. All the more disappointing is that after all the years of preparation, the result is a technically perfect but emotionless and clichéd work without a hint of originality. If you are interested in war movies, you can definitely take a look at this one because of the interesting backgrounds and the great special effects. But if you are more interested in the human aspect behind the story, you should give Red Tails a wide berth. Only conditionally worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp