A chilling, no-nonsense view of a small piece of war from ground zero.

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 1998)

What can be said about this film which hasn't already been said. The acting, the setting, the cinematography simply captures your mind, heart, and soul and brings you (sometimes dragging you unwillingly) on this journey into one of the darkest yet most vital and necessary moments in our history as a nation. I think this movie provided many with an insight into the reality of war on a level which has not been previously captured. There are scenes in this movie which once seen cannot be "unseen". Images which will last in your mind for a very long time and make you appreciate the sacrifice of so many not so long ago. We praise Firemen for their courage to stand ready to enter a burning building to save a life. How should we praise the men and women in uniform who likewise stand ready to enter combat, at a moments notice, to preserve our way of life. Yet the latter group tends to be praised or spurned with the changing of the political tides. Every now and then a movie comes along which can do something to correct such an injustice in our mindsets. This was one such movie. It should become part of high school or college history curriculums for either the study of the history of war (though this was not based on a true story) or as a study in human character and psychology, much as Moby Dick is a study of human obsession with a task which must be accomplished. I give this the highest rating of 10 for the superb acting, the script, and the courage to show us the realistic effects of war on people.