Some good substance, but didn't like the style.

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2001)

I think I see what the director was trying to accomplish: showing the strain of war on the soldiers, and how nature goes on unperturbed by humans scurrying around and blowing up stuff. The fighting was pretty intense, and it was good to see the Japanese both as shadowy hordes and as broken men (just a step or two beyond where the U.S. soldiers were).
But as a movie it was too long; I kept expecting to see credits roll, and the flick would just continue. The narrator waxing poetic didn't move me, and I *like* war poets as a rule. The narrator didn't engage me particularly. The jaunts off to hang with the natives were irritating.
Like I said, I could see where the director wanted to take me, but I think he could have followed a shorter route.