We Were Soldiers
Directed by Randall Wallace
We Were Solders is a bloodthirsty
'Nam movie. This is a movie about when America
fought for control of a hill containing uncounted
Vietnamese troops barracked in underground tunnels.
We Were Solders is similar in
plot to
Thin Red Line - only without
the intelligence, thoughtfulness, beauty and
class of that incredible movie.
We Were Solders kicks off by gleefully
showing the French literally getting it in the
neck at about the time of their abandonment
of 'Nam in 1954. Even before a drop of
American
fake blood is spilled,
We Were Soldiers
seems keen to save face by screaming,
hey
kids, look on the bright side: OK, so the Americans
were defeated but, hey, the Europeans got their
ass kicked by these ruthless bastards too.
Next we are shown War hero Mel Gibson shipped
in to lead a platoon (the Seventh Cavalry) against
the Vietnamese. In a typically crass Hollywood
scene Gibson is in his bedroom trying to analyse
where the French went wrong. He writes in his
notepad "Ill prepared, underestimated the
enemy = Massacre", or some such crap. If
that is the depth and sophistication of the
American military analysis, it is no longer
that they lost too. Of course it is typical
Hollywood, one can only hope that the Americans
were somewhat more strategic than that.
During the initial build up,
We Were Soldiers
goes into Political Correctness overdrive -
preaching again and again that discrimination
is a BAD THING. I suspect that the movie is
trying to pre-empt any racism accusations against
itself when it takes the piss out of the Vietnamese.
The movie wouldn't think twice about taking
such precautions if it were a WW2 movie about
ridiculing and killing Germans. Such is the
stupidity of political correctness. The upshot
is, the sheer holier-than-thou preachy political
correctness of the first half an hour of
We
Were Soldiers is a real fly in the ointment.
Note to brain damaged Hollywood execs:
If I buy a movie ticket I do not want to pay
for moronic, patronising lessons in political
correctness. I am paying to be entertained!
Sigh. I suspect this is an insidious trend:
mindless movies will compete ever more desperately
to be the most righteously politically correct
heap of shit. Nausiating.
It is a huge relief when the action gets underway.
But the relief is uneasy. Even I feel that the
scale of the violence portrayed is over the
top. The camera lovingly dwells on men dying
in indescribable agony on several occasions.
The special effects these days are so sophisticated
that horrific deaths can be portrayed with brutal
realism. Or at least it
looked real to
me. But I got the impression that the lingering,
explicit presentation of the violence seem exploitative
rather than morally thought-provoking. Violence
is absolutely necessary for a good action thriller.
But, as with Saving Private Ryan, the impression
I get is that these historical battles are being
made into movies to fulfil sleazy, voyeuristic
objectives. The producers hope that people will
pay to watch sheer slaughter. We are dealing
with the concept of money grubbing Hollywood
prostituting history and tragedy for profit
with ever increasing shamelessness.
If you can stomach the violence,
We Were
Solders is paradoxically only worth
seeing for its incredible and gruesome depiction
of battle. This movie doesn't leave much to
the imagination, which in some ways actually
distanced me from the sense of the horror. I
didn't have to immerse myself in the action
mentally. I could just watch from the sidelines.
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spoilers corner
Spoilers!!!!
Warning: this box contains a movie post-mortem analysis that freely gives away important plot twists and details. If you have not yet seen this movie and intend seeing it, avoid this spoilers box until afterwards. Bookmark the page, see the movie, see if you agree with my review then write an arsy comment saying I am talking total b*ll*cks :-)
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More bombs were dropped by the Americans
during the Vietnam War than were dropped
by the World in World War II. Truly astonishing
scenes in We Were Soldiers
were the depiction of the napalm bombings.
Those interminable tearful yet stoic wives
scenes didn't work. But I suppose it was
necessary to break up the battle scenes.
Personally, I'd have much preferred to
see scenes of generals plotting from their
safe sanctuaries.
From watching We Were Solders
you'd not get the impression that the
Americans lost. The Americans have
been trying to win the Vietnam War on
the big screen ever since they lost the
*real* Vietnam War. Vietnam won. The USA
lost. That is history and it is not easily
rewritten. Indeed Mel Gibson himself has
a shameful habit of staring in movies
that are historical fallacy - or to be
more to the point - total bullshit. Gibson
/ Hollywood Historical Bullshit Hall of
Shame contains The Patriot,
Braveheart and now We
Were Soldiers.
The ending: do you really think that the
Vietnamese general (even assuming he would
have been there at the top of the hill)
would have replaced that little tattered
flag? What total bullshit!
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There are no more spoilers below this
point, except maybe in any user talkback
comments.
End of spoilers corner
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Get rid of the bloody flag
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