We Were Soldiers
Directed by Randall Wallace.
“We knew what Vietnam had been like. … Hollywood got it wrong every damned time, whetting politically twisted knives on the bones of our dead brothers.” — Lieutenant-General Harold G. Moore (retired)
As you can see, General Moore has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about the film industry. In his view, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket etc. all lied about the Vietnam war, particularly by denigrating the US military as a disintegrating mob of incompetent, brutal officers and unwilling, stoned draftees.
To remedy this, Moore wrote an account of the first major battle between American and North Vietnamese forces, in which he himself had led a battalion of US Cavalry. His men were not riding horses, of course — the 7th Cavalry “had cashed in its horses for choppers, and gone tear-assing around ’Nam, looking for the shit”.
They found it at the Ia Drang Valley in 1965, where around 400 of Moore’s men were surrounded and attacked by 2000 enemy. What ensued was very bloody for all concerned (and, no, I won’t spoil the movie by revealing what happened). Moore got out alive (obviously), and years later his book became a best-seller and was the inspiration for We Were Soldiers.
It might have been a good basis for a film, but writer/director Randall Wallace made a hash of it. The first hour or so — set on base as the unit prepares for war — is just plain awful. Moore is played by Mel Gibson, as, well, Mel Gibson. You know, the all-round nice guy who’s smart, well-read, loves his family, cares for his soldiers, goes to church, is tough and yet good-humoured. If Moore was really like this, the US Army should have got in touch with the Vatican to have him canonised.
Moreover, military training is portrayed as a rather jolly lark — like an exciting boys’ adventure camp. It’s worlds away from the brutality depicted in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket and last year’s Tigerland. We Were Soldiers plays more like a US Army recruiting commercial than a serious exploration of military training.
However, things get vicious once the unit is deployed to Vietnam. The battle sequences are well directed and visualised. One particularly intense scene depicts a true incident when a US airforce jet overshot its target and dropped napalm on the US position. The images of people ablaze and burn injuries are some of the most unpleasant film scenes I’ve ever seen. This, presumably, is what gives the film its MA rating. (Of course, if it had shown any full-frontal nudity or sex it would have received an R classification, as these are obviously much more disturbing than seeing people fry!)
There is some attempt to depict the enemy point of view, with little vignettes featuring the North Vietnamese commander and one of his soldiers. However, the real focus is Mel, the all-American wonderboy.
Overall, I can only give this a C+. Don’t see it if you’re disturbed by realistic violence or find Mel Gibson irritating.
Paul
