Vishnu goes to War

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2004)

This is a powerful movie, beautifully filmed and acted. It's easy to see why Mel Gibson chose Jim Cavaziel to play Christ in the Passion, which I have not and will not see. I didn't know it was Cavaziel until the end credits, but he was mesmerizing as the sometimes awol private. There's a lot of spiritual depth in this movie, which appears to be influenced by Hindu ideas, especially in the Bhagavad Gita, with Arjuna and Vishnu. Which may explain why my father in law, who is Catholic, and who fought with the Marines at Guadacanal, hated this movie, and said "it wasn't like that at all." Maybe too much on the inner thoughts and philosophy, and non-Christian. I think the Marines were a tighter knit, harder ass kicking outfit than the Army soldiers portrayed in the movie, too concerned with staying alive when they were outnumbered and cut off from the outside, to have been as self reflective as the men in this movie. I think it's a great movie, but I have to defer to him and the other brave men who were really there on the accuracy. Great performances by Cavaziel, Nolte, Sean Penn, and many others.