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We Were Soldiers | Year: 2002 Classification: Drama Directed: - Randall Wallace Actors/Actresses: - Barry Pepper - Madeleine Stowe - Mel Gibson Great Movie; Good Extras "We Were Soldiers" is a U-turn for American films about Vietnam. For years, the best flicks about the war highlighted the nation's disillusionment and cynicism about our involvement in Southeast Asia -- "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket," and "Born on the Fourth of July" leave the viewer bereft, wondering how to deal with that ball of ice in your stomach. But each of these films looks back with regret, wtih "if we only knew the truth at the beginning, we wouldn't have gotten involved over there in that hideous war." "We Were Soldiers," on the other hand, captures the America at the beginning of the Vietnam conflict. Most of the soldiers are the earnest, happy-go-lucky young guys we got in the John Wayne war films . . . before they go off to war, they sing and dance with their wives and girlfriends, and they show an innocent heroism under fire. Only the senior officers, played by Mel Gibson and Sam Elliott, know the truth about war and how savage the Vietnam conflict will be. Mel, as the senior commander, gets a bit jingoistic at times, but that his depiction is apparently dead-on for those who know the real-life commander (who was a consultant on the film). Sam Elliott, as the grizzled second-in-command, is a wonder -- he stalks the movie with a barely concealed fury, terrifying his own soldiers, but has a moment of exquisite tenderness and leadership with one of his boys. Like the young soldiers, the audience gets its education on how the conflict will be -- the Vietnamese, who are given a humanity rarely seen in Vietnam movies, still charge with near-suicidal determination. We see napalm in its hideous applications. We see the terror of a unit cut off from the main force overnight. We are stunned by seeing what men can endure and we despair because no man should have to experience the hell of that battlefield. The movie truly shines with its parallel storyline of the wives and girlfriends back in Georgia who wait for news of their loved ones in combat . . . or, more accurately, pray that they do not receive news. The movie's most touching scenes revolve around the delivery of the "We regret to inform you . . . " telegrams announcing the death of another soldier to their families. Anyone who can watch these scenes without heartache has not heart. The DVD also contains some nice extras, including deleted scenes with director's commentary. It's always interesting to hear why certain scenes didn't make it into a good story, and while some of the deleted scenes were quite good, it's hard to quibble with the explanation. We Were Soldiers is a moving, human film We Were Soldiers, Randall Wallace's 2002 feature film about the three-day Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam, is perhaps the best Hollywood depiction of America's "lost crusade" in Indochina. Based on Lt. Gen. Harold B. Moore and Joseph Galloway's non-fiction book We Were Soldiers Once....and Young, Wallace's film version is a realistic and respectful account of the first major battle between U.S. and North Vietnamese forces in November of 1965. Starring Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore, We Were Soldiers begins with the Vietnamese destruction of France's Mobile Group 100 in 1954, the same year that Diem Bien Phu fell and French involvement in Vietnam ended, paving the way for America's long and doomed intervention. This opening scene is graphically violent yet serves to drive home its point - to show the determination of the Vietnamese to drive off any outside force, even if it means being ruthless. We Were Soldiers, unlike Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now or Oliver Stone's Platoon, portrays its soldiers realistically and without the anti-military post-Vietnam War bitterness that permeates those two films. (To be fair, both Coppola and Stone's movies are well made, and in the case of Apocalypse Now, that film is not really about Vietnam per se but rather a Vietnamized adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness.) Some viewers might even accuse Wallace (who wrote and directed) of having a right-wing revisionist slant, but in the featurette on the making of the movie, he points out that he was inspired to do We Were Soldiers when he read Hal Moore's comment that Hollywood has never gotten it right when it comes to making movies about the Vietnam War. We Were Soldiers not only has respect and admiration for the U.S. soldiers, but it also depicts the bravery and sacrifice of the Vietnamese People's Army. True, most of the focus is on the American troops and, unusually for a Vietnam combat movie, their families. But I personally have not seen the North Vietnamese portrayed with this much respect in a movie - even though I know Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth is a movie that deals with the Vietnamese. Mel Gibson portrays Lt. Col. Moore with his usual earnestness, wit and warmth. He allows us to see the human side to this very intellectual and dedicated soldier. He is not only a very pensive officer who reads French history books about Vietnam and has various college degrees, but also a loving husband and father. His scenes with Madeline Stowe, who plays his wife Julie, exude affection and true chemistry. Also, the scene when Moore explains the concept of war to his youngest daughter is touching and tender. Rounding out the cast are Sam .. Buy We Were Soldiers at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  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