Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler, Daniel David Stewart, Rafi Gavron, Graham Patrick Martin, Kevin J O’Connor, Austin Stowell, Jon Rudnitsky, Gerran Howell, Tessa Ferrer, Lewis Pullman, Grant Heslov, Jay Paulson, Domenico Cuomo, Giovanni Stocchino, Pico Alexander, George Clooney, Giancarlo Giannini, Hugh Laurie, Julie Ann Emery, Ian Toner, Viola Pizzetti, Valentina Belle, Martin Delaney, Elisa Menchicchi, Valentina Ruggeri, Francesca Turrini, David Power, Salvatore Scarpa, Marilena Anniballi, Joe Massingill, Josh Bolt, Alex Beliglia Zampetti, Joseph Millson, Giacomo Rocchini, Sara Pallini, Anthony Skordi, Massimo Wertmuller, Nicola Goodchild, Harrison Osterfield, Jamie Blackley, Peter Guinness, Jackson Bews, Shai Matheson.
The double-edged sword of writing a best-selling novel that could be considered baffling, almost visually impenetrable, is that it is unlikely to transfer to television or cinema with the same courage of conviction that the writer intended it to be seen as in their mind; the crossing point between the act of passion and the madness that all writers surely exhibit in pursuit of a story.
Across the multitude of genres that deal with the complexity of the issue, those that try to find a way to explain madness, are surely those that are in the Catch-22 pen, portray it right and nobody will understand it, frame it wrong by dumbing down and trying to appeal to all, and nobody will remember it.
Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is monumental in its scale, in its delivery and one that finds that crack in the hole of expectation and delves deeper into the psyche than most could consider even contemplating, held back by the sane realisation that they would gain nothing by revealing what it takes to deal with the cross thread of lucidity and rationality.
It is testament to satire and the observational writing skills of Luke Davies and David Michod, that the six-part television adaptation of Heller’s novel stands firm against the rage of expected disappointment, and creates a sense of mystique to the names of John Yossarian, Colonel Cathcart and General Scheisskopf that had arguably been missing from the 1970s cinema outing. As Philip K. Dick once wrote, “It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane”, and nothing captures the lunacy of war than that of a soldier accepting his mission with peace and no understanding.
Catch-22 offers the television viewer the full-on slow descent into madness, the grasp of the reality of war and those that profit from it, through to the finality of being caught between those that want to shoot you in the chest, and those that want to stab you in the back. To accept madness is to understand that you don’t stand a chance, that is the most rational response of all.
A superbly written series, one that sees the world of Catch-22 make perfect sense.
Ian D. Hall