Paintball and D-Day enthusiast? Look no further for something to fill your very niche combination of loves. Soldiers of Paint is a documentary about one of the biggest paintball events in America, an epic recreation of the D-day invasion of Normandy. The event takes place every year on a 700- acre stretch of land in Oklahoma, with a hefty 4000 people taking part.
The documentary follows the preparation and the lead up to the event, from the perspective of the organisers, and from the people taking part. The organiser is the grandson of a veteran of Omaha Beach, and owns the large expanse of land that becomes the battlefield, and is essentially what allows this recreation to occur. The organisation is a substantial task, and a lot of effort goes into making the event as realistic as possible. They build buildings especially for the event, have tanks and airplanes, and try and include relics from this era, such as original bridges. The collection of artefacts that has been collected is quite impressive.
As for the participants, there are essentially two teams, the ‘French’ and the ‘Germans’. The recreation does not have any restrictions once the game has begun, so in theory the Germans have the opportunity to win. My preconception would be that they turn up on the day and have a bit of a plan and then go for it spontaneously. I was mistaken. The people that take part in this are completely committed to their potential success. They spend months planning their strategies and will try and sabotage the other players by listening in on their calls, planting moles etc. The camera crew also visit the families of the participants and you see just how much time this event takes up in their lives.
It is an abstract idea for me, taking something like this so seriously, but there are many other hobbies that people become just as infatuated with, why not this? During the documentary there were some strange comparisons between the paint balling and one of the most terrifying battles of all time, but overall it was quite a respectful tribute to veterans.
Although the event does look like it would be a good day out for the participants, watching this documentary was a bit of a struggle, due to my lack of interest in the subject and the actual content. There is some footage of the actual battle, but this does not salvage interest that has already been vanquished by the in-depth preparations. Not exactly thrilling viewing.
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