Catch-22

The main character of Joseph Heller's legendary novel "Catch-22" comes up against a paradox when he tries to get out of flying missions for the military in World War II. He's an air bomber who's concerned for his own safety, so he tries to convince his superiors that he's insane and can no longer fly. But they tell him he must fly because someone who is concerned for their own safety cannot possibly be insane.

We use the idiom "catch-22" all the time. It's a circular concept, an impossible situation from which there is no escape, a problem that is unsolvable because it has contradictory rules or limitations. But the idea of a "catch-22" was made up for this very circular, absurd novel. Still, what better metaphor for the madness of war? There are no heroes and there's no way out. Worst of all, there's no end in sight.

"Catch-22," now adapted as a 6 part limited series on Hulu, describes the mad bureaucracy of war by making war ridiculous. This bureaucracy was a passionate problem in 1970, during the height of the Vietnam War, when Mike Nichols and Buck Henry brought Heller's novel to the silver screen. It was a revolutionary time in the United States and the country was primed for this kind of narrative. Heller's infamous non-linear structure fit right in with the nation's non-traditional approach to the American ideal. The tone was frenetic and absurd, but it pulled no punches in the end.

The series has more time to draw out the story and build the subplots. It also paints its pictures with more nostalgia and more realism, especially in the battle scenes. (Ironically, because it's all CGI.) The music is of the period, which further enhances the realistic mood. (In the movie the romantic music of Richard Strauss comments on the action rather than sets the tone.)

Unlike the novel or the movie, the series is grounded in a more linear, chronological approach. It focuses on the antihero John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott) and his desperate attempts to get out of combat. But the more he struggles to complete his military responsibilities the more missions his superior, Colonel Cathcart (Kyle Chandler), piles on to him. Yossarian runs into this kind of problem with all his superiors (Hugh Laurie and George Clooney).

In spite of what seems to be a more traditional approach, the series' directors and producers Grant Heslov, Luke Davies, David Mich�d and George Clooney nail the hilarious and devastating dilemma that "Catch-22" (and indeed most of the world's best comedy) is based on: the only way to give life meaning is by moving forward toward a goal that is basically hopeless.

This DVD contains two detailed featurettes and deleted and extended scenes.

"Catch-22"
DVD $39.98
www.hulu.com/series/catch-22-858b02a2-61de-4597-aaa0-7e3f12b54673