The Film Fury: Sergeant Don Collider

Fury, directed by, David Ayer, starting Brad Pitt as Sgt. Don Collider, is a fictional film that portrays how hard life can be for a soldier during war. The film takes place in around April 1945 in the ending stages of World War II. Sergeant Don Collider has the mission to lead his 5 man team in a Sherman tank to a final push against the Nazi’s. The platoon faces many obstacles on the way, and one of the major ones they face is having a young rookie soldier in the platoon. The young soldier, Norman Ellison acted by Logan Lerman, is scared and lost and doesn’t know what to do in time of action. He puts the whole platoon at risk not only once, but multiple times.

Fury focuses more on the bad side of war it shows the gruesome deaths, the dead bodies of fallen soldier scattered everywhere, and even the frustration a soldier has in the worst of times. The film depicts what war is really about and doesn’t fall into the same cliché many war movies do. The first scene in Fury starts with Sgt. Collider getting out of his tank and killing an enemy soldier in sight, while in the background you can see the result of a warfare with destroyed tanks and dead

bodies everywhere. As they reach camp, the first thing they see is dead bodies of fallen U.S soldiers being buried. It breaks the platoon down and even Sgt. Collider goes aside to shed some tears. Showing not only that even the bravest men break down at times, but the frustration a solider carries. It keeps its realism to a point by showing what really happens in war. Such as what soldiers have to deal with on a daily basis when in war.
However, the film does lack some creativity and realism in some parts. For example the rest of the platoon is made up of 3 men that just try to act hard, but can be easily broken down. Boyd Swan (Shia LaBeouf) is a fighter, but in his head, he is very religious, Trini Garcia (Michael Pena) is a Mexican-American that, loves to drink, and Grady Travis (Jon Bernthal) is just another hillbilly that is aggressive and just wants to kill. The platoon can be seen as just another stereotype, lacking originality in each of the solider and showing the very little creativity the directors put into them. Nevertheless as the platoon continues its journey in the tank “Fury”, after they secure a town they stop for a rest. Sgt. Collider takes Norman under his wing and takes him into an apartment. They find two women who openly decide to cook for them without a problem. Norman falls in love with one of them, and falls apart seeing her die after the platoon get attacked by an air strike. This scene is all over the place and shows no realism at all, not only because Norman falls in love in less than an hour, but because the German women were so generous and helpful while the rest of the Germans only want to kill the Americans. It doesn’t depict what would really happen or the dialogue they would have in between them. After the death of the German woman the emotional part of it was very poor, even knowing how vulnerable Norman is, it doesn’t feel sad watching him break down crying in front of everybody.
As the film goes on the dialogue in between the platoon seems very realistic, the tension and frustration is growing in them.

For example Sgt. Collier told Norman, “I started this war killing Germans in Africa then France then Belgium now I’m killing Germans in Germany, it will end soon, but before that a lot more people got to die,” as he stared into a burning city. It is very easy to tell they’re getting tired of war and killing people, as for Norman he finally starts to develop the character he needs to be in war. This is a very good turning point in the movie, it makes his character more mature and therefore it is easier to connect with us. Thanks to his maturity, he starts making the right decisions under pressure. It makes us wonder if he will actually step up to the plate, or if he will just break apart any

second.
As the platoon advances, the tank gets hit with a proximity mine and the tracks break. Sgt. Collider and his men have nowhere to go with German soldier’s coming their way. This is a major point in the plot, Norman makes a decision that is maybe too good to be true. He decides to stay back and fight off the German soldier’s, his act of heroism feels a bit unrealistic, but nevertheless it’s what brings the movie back to life. In a dramatic ending Sgt. Collider and his men die except for Norman, who gets saved by a German soldier. That is what made the ending so good, it caught the viewers by surprise making us feel even more touched by the death of the rest of the characters.
Although Fury sometimes does lack some realism, it doesn’t fail to portray how hard it is for a soldier during war. And that’s what makes it great, it makes us connect with the film and feel sympathy for all the soldier’s out there fighting in war. Fury is one of the few movies out there that shows that war really never ends quietly, and this is the big message director Ayer wanted to show.