Cruel, painful but necessary

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2002)

By now, everyone should know the plot, etc so I'll cut to the chase. This show is raw, visceral and almost painful to watch. Not because it is bad, rather it is good, too good. You can feel the pain and torment in the soldiers caught up in the fight. You can empathize with their loss because they are just your friend/buddy/mate next door, whom you trust your life with. This type of bond is rarely experienced outside the uniform services, and is specially strongly here and it shows. The cruel part is to see young, healthy people cut down in the prime of their lives for a cause that was good but so poorly and disappointedly, lost. BTW, I had bought the hardback version of this book back in May 1999 and had only the opportunity to read parts of it as it was painful for me to read it (for the above reason). This movie made me confront the entire issue again.
I can't say enough good things about this show, with a few exceptions. The characters are not developed enough. As such, the show is too short and too long at the same time. Too long, because the fire fight especially some parts could be condensed since parts have already been cut out. Too short as you don't know the various characters except for the first four of the billings: Eversman (Harnett), Grimes (McGregor), McKnight (Sizemore), and Hooten (played by the Aussie, Eric Bana) as well as MG Garrison (Shepard).
However, to the younger viewers, this movie will NOT strike a cord as most have already been in my view, desensitized by games like "Counterstrike" and various FPS where you can kill and be killed without suffering any loss, much less pain of injury. This is in my view, another tragedy in itself.