Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2001 American romantic
war drama film called, Pearl Harbor. Spoiler’s ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
In Tennessee around the year 1923, Young Rafe and Danny is playing with an old biplane pretending
that they are fighting off the Germans during the World War I while watching Rafe’s Father
fly a plane. Danny’s father intervenes between Rafe and Danny and pulls Danny away from Rafe,
calling Rafe a stupid boy who can’t read. Rafe picks up an old propeller
and hits Danny’s father at his back to help Danny, and calling him a dirty German,
in which Danny’s Father replies that he is one of the soldiers who fought during the war
and prays that no one ever has to see the things he saw during the war.
In the time of January 1941, both best friends, Danny and Rafe, are currently
the first lieutenants under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle, and are showcasing their skills
that amazed the other pilots. Major Doolittle, and Rafe are discussing about a letter wherein Rafe
was accepted into the Eagle Squadron from Britain, which is a branch from the Royal Air Force,
to be a volunteer pilot for the war, but America was also about to be part of a war and Major
Doolittle is letting Rafe choose between going to London or staying with them to fight the war,
the Rafe asks Major Doolittle that if he was at Rafe’s shoes what will he do, and Major Doolittle
says that he will go to London. Rafe is talking to Danny and lies about how Major Doolittle was the
one who assigned him in London, without telling him that it was also his choice to volunteer.
In a train riding to New York, nurses alongside with Evelyn, are chatting about their jobs being
a nurse for the military. Evelyn then starts to talk about her romantic love story with Rafe
four weeks ago about how she passed Rafe in his medical examination even though he has Dyslexia,
which is also known as a reading disability disorder, and she starts to describe it as
the most romantic four weeks and two days of her life being with Rafe. As the train stopped and the
nurses went down, Evelyn was warmly welcomed by Rafe with an origami gift and a tight hug. Rafe
and Evelyn enjoys the New York nights dancing in a night club with their fellow pilots and nurses.
Rafe and Evelyn goes to the New York harbor without any permission and starts sailing on
a Police boat enjoying their moments together. As they went back to the hotel, Rafe suddenly
talks to Evelyn about him joining the Eagle Squadron and fight in a war tomorrow, which makes
Evelyn shocked by his confession but Rafe gives an assurance to Evelyn that he will come back to her,
that is why he does not want Evelyn to see him off as he leaves the next morning.
To Rafe’s surprise, he saw Evelyn who actually goes to the train station to
bid farewell to him but Evelyn did not see him, and that is when Rafe realizes
that Evelyn does love her since she came even to the train station to see him.
The British Air Force is struggling in the war, and Rafe sees all the planes filled
with bullet holes being fixed and blood stains of the previous pilot in his assigned plane.
Amidst a war in London, the Americans starts to join in to strengthen their defense as a
preparation for a war, and at the same time the Japanese are planning to strike the Pearl Harbor
in one blow, wherein the other pilots and nurses were assigned in. In different places, Rafe and
Evelyn always write letters to one another and never missed an opportunity to tell what they had
to go through without each other by their sides. During a fight on air with other plane crafts,
Rafe was leading the group well, with each enemy plane going down one by one, but an enemy plane
is behind him and starts to fire his plane with numerous bullets and hits Rafe’s plane.
Rafe went down the waters in a plane crash and was presumed as dead. Danny relies this message
to Evelyn, which left her and other people close to Rafe, devastated about his death.
Three months had passed since Rafe’s death, Evelyn and Danny starts to develop feelings for one
another. Danny offers Evelyn to watch the sun set in Pearl Harbor up in the air, and they fly while
enjoying the moment together. Danny tells Evelyn that she shouldn’t be worried and this is the
start of a new beginning for the both of them, and assures her that they should move on from
the past. One night, as Evelyn was working, she suddenly bumps into Rafe and was shocked to see
him alive and real in front of her. Rafe explains how he was shot down in the sea but he survived
the plane crash and was picked up by a French fishing boat and stayed in France since then.
Danny comes rushing to see Rafe while holding a telegram confirming that Rafe was indeed alive. As
Rafe is looking at both his best friend and lover, he then realizes that while he was away, the most
important people to him betrayed him. Rafe goes to the club in Hawaii and feels the warm welcome
from his fellow pilots, and then Danny came too. As Rafe saw him, he starts to get annoyed by
Danny’s presence and sarcastically give thanks to Danny for taking a well good care of Evelyn. Danny
wanted to talk with Rafe about what happened, but Danny was drunk because of the alcohol
and went for the heat of the moment and punches Danny in the face. They get into a fight and start
to break things in the bar, so the bartender calls the police and as the police arrive,
both Rafe and Danny escape the bar and talks about what happened once again, in which Rafe says that
nothing will ever stay the same like before. They both fall asleep in the car as the dawn breaks.
On December 7th of 1941 in a peaceful morning in Hawaii, the people in Pearl Harbor are
taken by surprise by the sudden attack of the Japanese that continuously wipes out the whole
fleet in the Harbor. Each boat and ships are under attack by missiles and navies are being
showered by bullets which leaves numerous dead bodies in the site of the attacks.
Under the attack of the Japanese, some navies build up their courage to fight the Japanese
using their heavy armors and guns. Not only are the ships being destroyed, even the hospitals
and aircraft bases are being smothered with guns and missiles by the Japanese.
Rafe and Danny are struggling to get on aircrafts due to the continuous attacks, but their fellow
comrades help them along the way in which they successfully board two P-40 aircrafts.
They fight off with the Japanese in mid-air, and Rafe and Danny shoots down Japanese Zeros
aircrafts. After that, they start to go and join the fight in Battleship row and they
successfully crashed some Japanese aircrafts that were about to leave the Pearl Harbor.
Injured individuals are constantly piling up the only hospital in the area,
which makes all medical staffs flustered due to the sudden increase in the volume of patients.
Evelyn is assigned to sort out patients that can be saved from the ones that cannot be saved,
and she sees her friend Betty, who was found dead by a man. The President of the United States,
President Roosevelt, conducts a conference, announcing about what happened in Pearl Harbor
that is a day that will live in infamy, wherein over 3,000 American lives were lost in the attack.
The President affirms a victorious win for the country and declares a state of war against the
empire of Japan. Rafe and Danny are asked to fly to the states under Major Doolittle,
and are assigned to go on a secret mission. While Rafe is packing his bags, Evelyn comes to him and
asks where Danny is. She also wants Rafe to know that she is currently pregnant with Danny’s child,
and she also tells Rafe that she will give Danny her whole heart but she will love Rafe
with her whole life. Rafe eventually accepts the fact that even though thinking about Evelyn
was the reason why he is still alive but came back with the odds not in his favor,
he still lets the two important people in his life to enjoy what they have.
Upon the arrival of Rafe and Danny in Major Doolittle’s office, Major Doolittle commends their
bravery in shutting down seven Japanese aircrafts while wearing a Hula shirt, as well as stating
that they are given a Silver Star award alongside with a promotion as a Captain. Major Doolittle
asks them whether they are willing to join the Secret Mission that he was assigned to do. Rafe
says that a secret mission is where you’ll get medals but those medals are instead sent to your
loved ones and both of them knows the risk of this mission, but both Rafe and Danny still accepts the
mission. Rafe starts to burn the letters and memories that he and Evelyn had. Danny then
comes looking for Rafe and saw him in front of a bonfire, then Rafe persuades Danny to not go on
the mission and Danny thinks that Rafe only wants to protect him since it is what he does even when
they were little, but it is actually due to the fact that Rafe does not want Evelyn to go through
losing another man again, but Danny insisted on going since in a war, death is always inevitable.
For the next three months, Rafe, Danny, and the other pilots that were tough enough to accept the
mission, are all trained for the upcoming secret mission. Heavy and unnecessary parts of the planes
were also unloaded for the plane to fly high smoothly and faster. Even though the pilots that
were being trained for the mission do not believe that it will work, Major Doolittle tells them that
it is possible to fly the plane and shows them how it is done by flying and lifting the plane
just before the plane crosses the red line. Major Doolittle announces that they will hit the central
city of Japan, which is Tokyo. Rafe and Danny is having a discussion when Major Doolittle asks
them what is currently bothering them, they told Major Doolittle how can they beat the Japanese
when they only have 16 aircrafts but when the Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii,
they had more than 300 aircrafts that were sent, and Major Doolittle tells them that they should
only believe, since the ones who believes will always have the victory. Major Doolittle and Jack
is looking at their pilots when Major Doolittle starts saying that they may lose this battle
but they will win this war, because they have the heart of a volunteer, which are rare to
find in times of a war, and nothing is ever stronger than the heart of their volunteers.
A last meeting is being conducted before their take off in the afternoon of the next day.
Major Doolittle surprises the pilots that he will also join them in the air,
even though other military personnel want Major Doolittle to stay on deck since he
is a very valuable part of the military. Hours before the secret mission starts,
Evelyn is being led in by Major Jackson, in exchange for saving his life, in a room that may
be given the first-hand information about what is currently happening in the secret mission,
which is also a way for her to know what is happening to Rafe and Danny. As the team was
sailing, they were discovered by the Japanese earlier than they had expected, in which Major
Doolittle have no other options than to order the pilots to launch the planes even though the fuels
may not be enough for a longer distant flight and is not even part of the plan. The pilots
successfully dropped bombs in their target areas, which are the factories, but in return they are
being showered by flacks by the Japanese and some pilots are shot and injured. The remaining pilots
are now on their own and they have to find some near coast to land on before their fuels run out.
Rafe suddenly sees a land and tells Danny to follow him and land on a rice field. They all
prepare for a hard landing since their propellers each are gone without any fuel to power it up.
Rafe’s plane and crew are the first ones to land on the Rice field but the Japanese patrols easily
surrounds them with gunfire, and Danny arrives behind them and starts shooting at the Japanese
that were surrounding Rafe and his fellow pilots but had a hard landing in which Danny’s plane
crashed in the rice field. Rafe quickly runs to Danny and sees that there is a metal stuck to
Danny’s neck, and as he is attempting to remove the metal from Danny’s neck, the Japanese have
once again surrounded them and knocks up Rafe with a gun and ties Danny up. As the Japanese
was about to shoot at them, Rafe picks up a gun and shoots at the other Japanese Patrols but was
suddenly left with no more bullets at hand. When Rafe was about to get shot, Danny stands up and
bumps at the Japanese Patrol as an attempt to save Rafe’s life but Danny was then shot
many times by the Japanese, then the other pilots starts to finish off the other Japanese Patrols.
While holding Danny who is clinging unto his life, Rafe tells Danny that he is going to be a
father so he cannot die in this battle, but Danny replies that Rafe will be the father and not him
and suddenly stopped breathing, leaving Rafe as heartbroken as he can be. The Chinese comes to
rescue the remaining pilots, and all of them were brought back home to America with their families
awaiting them. Evelyn smiles as she sees Rafe come out of the plane, but her smile instantly
fades away as she sees Rafe and the others carrying the coffin of Danny. She gripped on
tightly unto Danny’s clothes and cries in the arms of Rafe, as both of them lost their loved one.
What happened in the secret mission, which Major Doolittle and the other navy and pilots were
assigned to the job, gave America the hope to experience victories rather than defeat.
The Japanese pulls back since they saw the Americans are going forward. It was a war
that changed America and the world, alongside with awarding the first black American, Dorie Miller,
the Navy Cross and is surely not the last one. The remaining Pilots, Navies, Doctors, and Nurses
in the military are all awarded because of their bravery and being the heroes of the war, and Rafe
is awarded personally by the President Roosevelt himself. Rafe and Evelyn are now discharged from
the military after the war, and are now happily married with Evelyn and Danny’s son, whose name
is also “Danny”. After looking at the tomb of Danny, Rafe asks baby Danny if he wants to go
fly with him, and the two of them flew up in the sky in an old biplane as the sun sets beautifully.