Average Film

Rating: 4/10 (10 December 2005)

I had heard a lot about this film, so made a major effort to rent and watch it. I was somewhat disappointed. I could not figure out if this film was meant to focus on the portion on life in PA, or in Vietnam. It's almost as if there were 2 films made "Life in Average-ville, PA" and "Horrors of Vietnam War" and they were fused together. Somehow, I did not feel any sorrow/angst for the people who were playing Russian roulette for money, which made the end of the movie somewhat 'blah' for me. The POW-Russian roulette scenes were very gripping. The movie focused so much on this Russian roulette issue that I was beginning to wonder if this is the national sport of Vietnam. Is it? Does anyone know? There were several other ways to show the 'impact of the war'  focus on the loneliness of the widows/wives left behind. Or, show some more of the suffering of the Vietnamese people. They seemed to be mere 'extras' in the movie.