Semper Fi!

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2005)

There was a Q&A with Swofford after the screening I saw, as well. This audience was largely middle-aged, affluent, and from Los Angeles. Several seemed rather disappointed that the film wasn't more openly anti-war than it is; though politically a liberal, I was impressed by the effort to not take that obvious a stand and (for once) let the audience do its own thinking.
While the action takes place in a relatively restricted time, place and era, I'm willing to bet that soldiers from any war -- Peloponnesian, Hundred Years or Civil -- could identify with the characters and situations. For that reason, I particularly commend it to people who have friends or relatives in the service.
One mild warning: as in real life, the language and situations occasionally get a bit salty.