Withstands the test of time

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2003)

I've just viewed the film in its entirety for the first time and already know that this one of those film experiences that will never leave me. It's as powerful a film as I have ever seen.
I don't understand most of the criticism from IMDB users about this movie, though I did notice that a lot of it seems to come from people who seem to be generally anti-American so I can roundly disregard those opinions (because they're about something else, not the movie). Then there's the young American viewer who spent several paragraphs describing how they "didn't get it" (hahahaha) and ultimately blamed the filmmakers for the viewer's own lack of historical knowledge and perspective. (I don't know whether to laugh or curse at that.)
Time after time, people said that the movie is overly long and that the wedding scene in particular is long. Yeah, on both counts, but this movie wasn't made in 2000; it didn't star Bruce Willis and it wasn't aimed at adults with the attention span of five-year-olds. Many dramas made in or about the 70s took on that style of filmmaking--long scenes that build slowly (i.e., Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, All the President's Men, Marathon Man, Dog Day Afternoon--to cite just a few examples.)
If you like gritty dramas, can take brutality onscreen, know anything or are just interested in the Vietnam era and, above all, know a little bit about even recent film history, you will love this movie.