Before Vietnam there was also a war!

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2002)

Watching this film opened my eyes for another struggle that went on during the Vietnam War. This is a story about the soldiers that know what is happening in Vietnam, and most of them want anything but to go there. Everyone has different story and different reason as to why they have found themselves in the final training camp (Tigerland) before they will be sent to Vietnam. But many of them have one thing in common; they don't want to go. An unwilling leader, Buzz, finds himself affecting his fellow soldiers with his non-enthusiastic attitude towards going to Vietnam. An unlikely hero amongst young men finding their way in this rather grim time, Buzz becomes their hero when discovering loopholes in their contracts which allows them to leave the army. The film is very well done, and every single actor was superb to watch. If there is anything I can criticize about the film is that every soldier other than Buzz had a story and a reason, while Buzz himself remained this mysterious character, seemingly without reason or solid story. But maybe that was the point as we follow his story only during this training, and we don't really know what came before or after. A real eye-opener as to how not all soldiers were eager and stupidly wanting to fight in Vietnam, even though they were enlisted. 8/10