A big love story on top of a very real and very terrible morning. Two of the heroes never existed — but two other pilots did.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = E (a pilot) · 2 = H (a nurse) · 3 = B (an attack) · 4 = G (a ship)
5 = A (a bomb) · 6 = D (brave) · 7 = F (true) · 8 = C (to invent)
Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor (2001). Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.) This film is about a day when thousands of real people died, so we will talk about it seriously.
Rafe and Danny are best friends. When they were small boys, they played at flying planes. Now, in 1941, they are both young pilots in the American army. Rafe meets a nurse called Evelyn, and they fall in love.
America is not in the war yet. But Rafe wants to fight, so he goes to England to fly with the British air force. Evelyn and Danny go to Hawaii. Then, one day, bad news arrives: Rafe's plane was shot down over the sea. Everyone thinks he is dead.
Danny and Evelyn are very sad, and slowly they fall in love too. Then, on 6 December, Rafe comes back. He is alive! He sees Danny and Evelyn together, and the two friends have a big fight. They do not know it, but in a few hours something much bigger will happen.
1. Why do Danny and Evelyn think they can fall in love?
2. What happens on 6 December?
1. Rafe goes to England to fight. His plane is shot down over the sea, so everybody thinks he is dead.
2. Rafe comes back alive. He finds Danny and Evelyn together, and the two friends fight.
It is early on Sunday 7 December 1941. Suddenly, Japanese planes come over the island of Hawaii. They drop bombs and torpedoes on the American ships in the harbour. Big ships burn and sink. Many men cannot get out.
Rafe and Danny run to a small airfield, get into two planes and fly. They are brave, and they shoot down several enemy planes. In the film, they are almost the only Americans who fly that day.
In the hospital, Evelyn and the other nurses work all day. There are too many hurt people and not enough medicine. It is a very hard, very sad day. After the attack, the President speaks to the country, and America goes to war.
1. What do Rafe and Danny do during the attack?
2. What is happening in the hospital?
1. They run to a small airfield, fly two planes and shoot down some enemy planes.
2. Evelyn and the nurses work all day. There are too many hurt people and not enough medicine.
America wants to answer the attack. A pilot called Doolittle plans something very dangerous: big bombers will fly from a ship, drop bombs on Japan, and then continue to China, because they cannot land on the ship again. Rafe and Danny both say yes.
The planes reach Japan and drop their bombs. Then they fly on until the fuel finishes, and they crash in China. Rafe and Danny are alive after the crash, but Japanese soldiers find them. Danny is shot while he is protecting Rafe, and he dies. Before he dies, he learns that Evelyn is going to have his baby.
Rafe goes home and marries Evelyn. Years later, they visit Danny's grave with a little boy. The boy has Danny's name. At the end, Rafe takes him up in a small old plane, over the same fields where two little boys once played at flying.
1. Why is Doolittle's plan so dangerous?
2. How does the film end?
1. The bombers fly from a ship, but they cannot land on the ship again, so they must continue to China and hope the fuel is enough.
2. Danny dies in China. Rafe marries Evelyn and helps to bring up Danny's son.
This story is full of reasons and results. Something happens, and then something else happens because of it. English has two small words for this, and they work in opposite directions.
Read the note in brackets and complete the sentence.
1. Rafe went to England he wanted to fly and fight. (the reason comes next)
2. Everyone thought Rafe was dead, Danny and Evelyn fell in love. (the result comes next)
3. The hospital was very busy there were hundreds of hurt people. (the reason comes next)
4. The bombers could not land on the ship, they flew on to China. (the result comes next)
1. because (reason)
2. so (result)
3. because (reason)
4. so (result)
No help this time. Look at the two halves and ask: which half is the reason, and which half is the result?
1. The big airfield was on fire, the two pilots ran to a small one.
2. The ships were easy to hit they were all together in the harbour.
3. Danny protected his friend, Rafe lived.
4. Evelyn could not save everybody there was not enough medicine.
1. so 2. because 3. so 4. because
Tip: try saying the sentence the other way round. "The two pilots ran to a small airfield because the big one was on fire." Same facts — different word.
Fill each gap with because or so. Read it aloud when you finish.
On 7 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. Many ships were together in the harbour, the planes hit them very quickly. About 2,400 Americans died that morning. The country was shocked the attack came with no warning, the next day America went to war. In the film, two pilots called Rafe and Danny are the heroes. They are not real people: the writers invented them they wanted a love story too.
so · because · so · because
Remember: because tells you why, and so tells you what happened next.
The attack really happened. But many people say this film is one of the least true war films ever made. Here is the difference between the film and the record.
Rafe, Danny and Evelyn are not real people. The writers invented them. But two real pilots did something very similar on that morning: Kenneth Taylor and George Welch. They drove through the attack to a small airfield called Haleiwa, took off in P-40 planes and fought. Welch shot down four Japanese planes and Taylor shot down two.
About fourteen American pilots got into the air that day, and four of them were killed. Many years later, Kenneth Taylor watched the film. He did not like it. He called it "a piece of trash".
Doolittle's raid on Japan was real, but it was a different operation. It happened on 18 April 1942 — four months after Pearl Harbor, not a few weeks. Sixteen bombers flew from a ship called the USS Hornet, with eighty men. They bombed six different cities, not only Tokyo. The film puts all the planes together over one city, because that looks better on screen.
Rafe's story in England is also impossible. Americans really did fly with the British air force in special "Eagle" squadrons, but those squadrons stayed in Britain until the autumn of 1942. And the Battle of Britain finished in October 1940 — the film shows Rafe still fighting in it in 1941.
This part is not a story. On 7 December 1941, 2,403 Americans were killed and more than a thousand were hurt. 1,177 of them died on one ship, the USS Arizona, and 429 on the USS Oklahoma. The planes came in two waves. The three big American aircraft carriers were away at sea that morning, so they were not hit — and this was very important later in the war.
The next day, 8 December, the President asked the government for war, and America entered the Second World War. On 11 December, Germany and Italy also declared war on America. That is what the attack really brought: not a love story, but a world war with America in it.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Pearl Harbor in your own words. Use these steps to help you: two friends become pilots → Rafe goes to England and everyone thinks he is dead → Danny and Evelyn fall in love → the attack on the harbour → the hospital → the dangerous raid on Japan → Danny dies and Rafe goes home.
Try to use some key words (pilot, nurse, attack, ship, bomb, brave, true, invent, harbour, hero) and join your sentences with because and so.
The film invents two heroes and gives them the brave things that real pilots did. One person says: "That is fine — people watch the film and learn about history." Another person says: "That is wrong — now people believe something that never happened."
Which person do you agree with? Say why, and use because and so.
Talk about films and real history. Use because and so.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: