the best of its kind?

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 2005)

the Vietnam War is one of those least understood in my home country of UK I think. This film will not assist us to greater understanding of the politics but you will not come away from watching it without a greater understanding of the men who fought it. When I first knew of its release I viewed Mel Gibson's employment as nothing but a ploy to rake in viewer's, fearing he would be a little john wayne-ish in the part of Hal Moore. I actually feel this is his finest performance to date. Films like platoon, hamburger hill and the boys from company c all have their own merits, whereas maybe green berets lacks any at all. We were soldiers stands head and shoulders above any of them in its representation of combat, its brutality, the comradeship it brings about and the effects upon those back home. I am not known for my moist eyes during films but I certainly felt myself weep for those wives left behind and what they had to endure. Hal Moore was a superb combat leader, of that there can be no doubt. This film is a fitting and excellent testimonial to them and all the boys who went there for reasons they little understood