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In Reply to: Just curious posted by sjb on August 28, 2002 at 10:17:48:
Good question!It think it showed the shaky start to the war very well indeed. Gross underestimation of the enemy. Next to no intellegence. No defined master strategy. The film shows Gibson's character highlighting the mistakes made by the French during their occupation only to be boxed into nearly repeating them himself.
As far as how it stands out among the past pack of Vietnam films, I would have to say it really makes an effort to portray the dignity of the combatants on both sides. You definetly feel an affinity for the Americans fighting out of professional duty and pride as well as the Vietnamese defending their country from outsiders.
I really enjoyed it. It is a moving film that is refreshing in it's abssence of military cliches in general and Vietnam ones in particular.
I would levy some minor critisism at the final battle scene, a bit over the top but that is about it.
Highly recommended!
Thanks,
Rob
Follow Ups:
Well said,dado. I'm no expert on war but it was obvious that the crew tried their hardest to make this true story as accurate as possible. As the real guy(portrayed by Mel Gibson) says in the extras..."Hollywood finally got it right". He should know since he was over there for almost two years. I liked how they portrayed some of the North Vietnamese soldiers and officers as real people...not like the evil Commie bastards in some other flicks. I've been recommending this film to all of my friends and coworkers. You're right...highly recommended.
Sorry for the delayed reply, I was staying away from the computer for a few days.I liked WWS more than I expected to. I thought it gave a much more human and less jingoistic view of the war than most war movies do.
I still thought the it was often trite, more PC than the reality of the time and a bit overblown on the heroism front but there were several character's I really liked (Gibson's, the photographer, the Vietnamese commander, several of the wives, the helicopter pilot (Greg Kinnear) and, of course, Sam Elliot.
I also though it was reasonably bold (especially since the movie had the thumbs up from the real Colonel) to portray the tragedy (for the years of death and destruction to follow) of our seeing the battle as a victory.
"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." --George W. Bush, July 26, 2000
Yeah, I liked the movie much more than I expected too and that's why I brought it up. I liked the way it showed the family side of the soldiers. I have four friends who saw it and they absolutely loved it. I just thought it was a pleasant surprise....it was much better than I expected. I also thought Mel Gibson did a good job...he toned it down a little for this movie. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who enjoyed this flick.
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