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by Edward Norton.
Quick --- you need to complete the following classic metaphor by
providing a modern example: "blank" is like shooting fish
in a barrel. I would suggest that the "blank"
could be filled in by the following: "Tom Wolfe taking on the
electronic media". Let's face it, Tom Wolfe going
after TV news people is like --- to use my own metaphor --- Mike
Tyson taking on Don Knotts. No contest. Game
over. That's all she wrote.
This decidedly one-sided fight is nonetheless the focus of AMBUSH
AT FORT BRAGG, Wolfe's only piece of new fiction since the appearance
of his acclaimed novel THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES in the '80's. If
you remember, this new story was marketed as an audio exclusive,
as no print version was offered at the time of its release, though
the novella had appeared in print previously, in Rolling Stone magazine.
As it happens, Wolfe's trademark acidic observations and "in
it for me" characters make it a natural for the audio medium,
and actor Edward Norton makes the most of it. You can practically
see the acid dripping from the dialogue as Norton performs the several
vitriolic, self-serving, stream-of-consciousness monologues. These
are done by Wolfe's central character, TV producer Irv Durtscher,
whose main problem is that he's sick of his on-air "blonde
bombshell" anchor woman getting all the credit for the stories
he puts together.
The plot is simple: Durtscher and his TV news magazine cronies plan
and execute a media ambush of three soldiers who are the likely
murderers of a fourth soldier. The evidence strongly
suggests that the fourth soldier was killed because the other three
discovered he was gay. Of course, as this is a Tom Wolfe
story, the primary goal of this "quest for justice" is
for Durtscher to achieve soaring ratings and personal prestige by
getting the soldiers to admit to the murder on camera. When
the ambush finally takes place, with the Diane Sawyer-like anchorwoman
suddenly appearing in the midst of the unsuspecting soldiers, something
interesting happens. And what takes place, despite the
easy target of AMBUSH AT FORT BRAGG, is undeniably brilliant and
a stroke of genius on Wolfe's part.
What happens is this: During the course of the media ambush, the
three soldiers that Wolfe strongly suggests did commit the heinous
hate crime start looking good! They accuse the media
people of not being fit to even talk to soldiers in the U.S. Army,
let alone make judgements about them. They criticize
the reporters' fabricated "authority" about subjects they
know nothing about before covering them. They zero in
on the media's over-simplification of issues. And then
the soldiers start talking about their own recent experiences, which
include getting caught in firefights during UN missions to deliver
food to Somalia. And damned if the soldiers --- guilty
or not --- don't score big points against their accusers. I could
practically see real-life TV news people listening to this tape
and running for cover. Wolfe is essentially saying to them, "Hey
guys, even these murdering Nazi skinheads, who were the product
of several generations of inbreeding in the backwoods of Appalachia,
look good compared to you!" Ouch.
Durtscher and his producers then edit the interview to remove all
statements from the soldiers that might make them appear sympathetic
in any way. You can feel Wolfe's scorn for the producers
as they turn their story into a black and white issue. Instead of
trusting the viewers to see the truth --- that the men committed
the horrible crime described --- they manipulate the interview to
make everything about the three soldiers seem bad and everything
about the murdered soldier seem good. Things then get
bad for Durtscher because his shady actions bring on the threat
of multiple lawsuits from multiple sources --- justified lawsuits. Which
then makes even the lawyers look good!
It seems that everybody in AMBUSH AT FORT BRAGG gets to be compared
to the media and come out smelling like a rose. But that's
not your problem, unless you're a television reporter, that is. Pick
this one up. You'll laugh even as you're nodding at Wolfe
in depressing agreement.
--- Reviewed by Joe Menta, Jr.
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