I know alot of you have probably been fiending for a follow-up to the “Production blog of Tunnel Rats.” (or “The Outrageous Adventures of Uwe Boll in South Africa.”) Some of you may have been dreading it like you do everything else this man is involved with, since you’re powerless to pull your eyes away. Well you’re BOTH gonna have to check out Part 2 of the production diaries for TUNNEL RATS, his ode to that strange time in history when the Vietnam war took a brief detour to South Africa, just for a scenery change (click here to relive part 1, where we find Uwe challenging an antelope to the 100-yard-dash).
Part 2 gets a little controversial, as Uwe lets his feelings about America’s involvement in Vietnam be known. He also reveals how not-a-big-deal it is when his stuntmen get sprayed with the shrapnel from a live grenade, or when a busload of extras topples down a mountainside. Oh Uwe!
PRODUCTION BLOG OF TUNNELRATS Part Two
Day three and four of our production were quite extreme for everyone as we
had to shoot many action sequences all with excellent results. Olaf
Ittenbach creates miracles with his so called blood effects, not as
exessive as in
the vampire movie BLOODRAYNE, more realistic, much closer to real war
wounds.
As the Vietnam War is famous for the massive use of four man-to-man combat
weapons, namely granades, machine guns, jagged edged jungle knives and
flamethrowers. So to have a very authentical Vietnam look for the movie,
we are
forced to use a lot of granades and firethrowers for the combat scenes. On
the
set many of our stuntmen and background performers suffered some minor
injuries
due to flying wood splinters and fire sparks.
The way I am doing this movie will add one more component why the
Americans
were doomed to lose the Vietnam War, the war underneath: A war in tunnels
below the surface of the endless jungles. In Cu-Chi for example the Viet
Cong
had digged a tunnel system of approximately 260 kilometers in total to
have
logistical supply line. Strategicaly these tunnels were the most clever
thing
the Viet Cong did, they were almost invisible especially from the air and
un
known for a long time. This advantage enabled the VC to maintain supply
for
the partisan fighters in the guerilla war.
During the sixteen years (1959-1975) of the Vietnam War approxiamtely
300.000 American soldiers have died. Many, many more were wounded, not
only outside
but also inside. Officially about 2 – 3 Mio. Vietnamese died. The
largest
number of them were civilians who suffered tremendously from both opponent
war combatant parties.
Even the massive use of herbicides by the US Air Force, most famous of
them
was Agent Orange, a nickname given by the soldiers and other chemical
defoliants, did not change the situation, as the substances made the trees
lose
their leaves. They did not reveal the huge tunnel system. But the Viet
Cong
tunnels were a very effective and totally underestimated war tool that
demoralized
the American troops in Vietnam. After years of fighting the US troops had
to
give up and withdraw from Vietnam. Only for comparison in the ongoing war
in Irak ( March 20, 2003 to present) so far 3,201 US soldiers have died.
It is very important for me to show that every single soldier who is
participating actively in a war is guilty by being an active part due to
his
profession to be a soldier. In most war movies the single, individual
soldier is
presented as a poor devil. I am a bit fed up with these stereotype movies.
If,
for example 1000 soldiers would quit fighting in Irak simultaneously, that
war
would be over. Others would follow them because every soldier that has
been
serving over there for more than a year already knows that this a lost
war.
And after, lets be honest US superiors can not afford to start
disciplinary
proceedings and hearings against 1000 US soldiers at the same time. Not
only
the media in the US would kill them for doing so.
On the day we are shooting the camp arrival of the soldiers by
helicopters,
I got bitten by a giant wasp, directly in my neck. Fortunately our on set
paramedics were prepared for such an accident and stopped the swelling.
Two
weeks before we started our production, exactly the same thing had
happened to
our line producer Chris Roland of CFQ Films and ballooned his face within
only
a couple of minutes.
The shooting of the complex helicopter scenes went well. The team was very professional. The landscape here in South Africa is unique, a beautiful
paradise. Co-incedently it seems that we shoot at the very same places and
locations that were used for the production of BLOOD DIAMOND with Leonardo
DiCaprio.
Most of our crew members have worked through the whole production of that
production of Edward Zwick too.
The special effect team as well as the stunt teams do a very good job and
bear the brunt completely. In the last days we detonated more than 120
explosions to have real raw war effects for the movie. All our actors are
extremely
motivated and well prepared, especially the youngsters from L.A. Some of
them
have fathers that had been fighting in Vietnam, so sometimes it is
like
they want to follow their footsteps. Luckily them, this is only a movie
and
not a real jungle war! We have blood, sweat and tears as well. But still
it is
no real war, nobody gets killed. Although we have new injuries and bruises
each day, no complains so far.
On day seven it started to rain heavily. The access road for our camp and
set was completely muddy and one of the busses with the background
performers
toppled and went off road. Fortunately towards the mountain side and not
down
the valley. Lucky us, nobody was injured!
There you have it… If I may, I have a suggestion as to who should play the take-no-crap sergeant of the unit…