Realistic Viet Nam war movie

Rating: 7/10 (26 December 2012)

I was too young to be in Viet Nam, but from the comments that I hear about this movie from those who were there, this movie has realism that still affects them emotionally.
This is probably the best role Mathew Modine has played up to that point. Not all the soldiers were like soldiers in this movie but I guess that's what the reality of it was at the time. The dichotomy or what didn't make sense was why did mostly middle class Americans have to be sent into this brutal war, that United States had no moral reasons to be involved.
The part that was most memorable was the scene where a Viet Namese sniper took out an American soldier. One second you're alive, next second you're dead. I could see why you could be psychologically distressed after seeing something like that.
To me many of the things that happens in this movie didn't make much sense. I guess you had to be there to understand it. The movie had a mood like no other movie I've seen. Whether it was a good movie or not is beyond me to judge, but it was produced well, and the acting was decent.
How this movie appears to you probably depends on your experience.