MOVIE REVIEW : ‘December’: Teen-Age Valor in the Face of War

“December” (selected theaters) is not quite the sentimental heart-tugger you might expect of a drama dealing with the impact of Pearl Harbor on five students at a New England prep school; yet it’s also a disappointment. The problem is more one of medium than material.

Conceivably, the highly theatrical “December” could be powerful on stage, but as a film it seems far too much of the time to be exceedingly artificial. Writer-director Gabe Torres even adheres to the Aristotelian unities of time (24 hours) and place (the action takes place entirely at the school, by far the greater part of it in a two-student suite and an adjoining bathroom).

Its talented and personable young cast acts up a storm, something we are all too conscious of throughout the entire film. Never once do they misspeak, all are incredibly articulate, and on the whole their level of discourse seems more graduate school than prep school. The result is not just a little tedious, despite the clear abilities of the actors.

Certainly, the students’ vulnerability and varied shocked reactions to President Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech seem perfectly plausible; soon thereafter we learn that the headmaster (Robert Miller) of Green Mountain Academy plans to announce that all seniors who have reached the age of 18 can leave school immediately to return home to enlist. Tim (Brian Krause), a husky champion swimmer, can’t wait to sign up and is baffled to discover that his four closest friends don’t react as reflexively as he does.

Only two weeks earlier, his best friend Kipp (Wil Wheaton) retrieved a copy of Dalton Trumbo’s 1939 anti-war novel “Johnny Got His Gun” from a furnace where the headmaster had consigned it to the fire. Transformed into a pacifist, Kipp is now facing expulsion for having written about it favorably in a book report.

Stuart Brayton’s fiercely bright Chris feels sure that he will be needed at his father’s manufacturing business, certain to retool for the war effort. Kipp’s younger brother Allister (Balthazar Getty) is the most responsive to Tim’s sentiments, but he’s only 16.

Russell Littlejohn’s Jason keeps saying that he needs more time to think about what Pearl Harbor means and its consequences for him, but he’s just plain scared, a legitimate enough reaction which the others actually share to a great extent but are better at concealing, at least initially.

Not helping “December” (rated PG for language) one bit is that Torres seems to be projecting attitudes and even speech patterns that seem more Vietnam era than World War II.

His students aren’t guilty of any thudding anachronisms--neither is Garreth Stover’s set for that matter--but they don’t use any 1941 slang or express any enthusiasms for the popular culture of the time. “December” is entirely admirable in what it attempts but comes alive only in its sure-fire final moments.

‘December’

Balthazar Getty Allister Gibbs

Brian Krause Tim Mitchell

Jason London Russell Littlejohn

Wil Wheaton Kipp Gibbs

Chris Young Stuart Brayton

An I.R.S. Media presentation of a Copeland/Colichman production. Writer-director Gabe Torres. Producer Richard C. Berman. Executive producers Miles A. Copeland III, Paul Colichman, Harold Welb. Cinematographer James Glennon. Editor Rick Hinson, Carole Kravetz. Costumes Ron Leamon. Music Deborah Holland. Production design Garreth Stover. Art director Kenneth A. Hardy. Set decorator Margaret Goldsmith. Sound Ken Segal. Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG (specific reasons for rating).