Summary
- CBS News published a Peter Berg profile on Oct. 25, focused on his film The Mosquito Bowl and the human cost of war.
- The film opens in select theaters Oct. 30 and begins streaming on Netflix Nov. 25.
- The movie adapts Buzz Bissinger’s account of college football players who enlisted in the Marines after Pearl Harbor.
A new film approaches release
Director Peter Berg’s World War II drama The Mosquito Bowl is scheduled to open in select theaters Oct. 30 and stream on Netflix beginning Nov. 25. CBS News published a Sunday Morning profile of Berg on Oct. 25, describing the film as a story about the human cost of war and his effort to bring the Okinawa campaign to the screen. [1] [2]
The movie follows four prominent college football players who set aside their athletic careers to join the Marines after the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to Netflix’s first-look report. The cast includes Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis. Netflix says the film adapts Buzz Bissinger’s nonfiction book, The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II. [2]
Berg told CBS that he wrote much of the screenplay while at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, where the correspondent interviewed him. The director described his aim as making audiences feel the violence of the Pacific war and consider what nations ask of young service members, CBS reported. [1]
The game behind the title
The title refers to a football game played by Marines on Guadalcanal before they shipped out for Okinawa, according to CBS. Neal McCallum, a Marine veteran who attended the game, told the network it ended in a 0-0 tie. CBS reported that McCallum was 99 at the time of the interview and had joined the Marine Corps shortly after turning 17. [1]
The battle of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945, and lasted nearly three months, according to the National WWII Museum. The museum says more than 12,000 Americans died in the campaign. CBS reported that 15 of the football players represented in the film were among those killed, placing the game in a larger story of the enormous losses suffered during the Pacific war. [3] [1]
Berg’s profile arrives days before the film’s limited theatrical release. Netflix has not described the movie as a documentary: it is a dramatic adaptation of Bissinger’s nonfiction work, with the historical game and players informing the story. The streamer lists the film’s Nov. 25 debut as its next release milestone. [2]
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