very bad film

Rating: 1/10 (3 April 2002)

I am not one for writing reviews, But I do when a film is particularly bad or good imho.
This one was particularly bad, it is a "gung ho" "america rules the world" "america saves the world" type of film. It does not address the true causes of the Vietnam war: The western world ignoring president Diem's brutal facshist dictatorship and most importantly the US support of the dictator. Leading to the South Viet Cong formation and fight for freedom against a brutal government. The US supplying forces to help the Dictator, Diem. Then the Coup of 1963, leading to the assassination of Diem. By now the US government run by Kennedy began to sit up and take notice, Kennedy knew these people were oppressed and as a result of the coup he was going to pull all his troops out of Vietnam and let them get on with it. But the US generals who wanted a war decided then to assassinate Kennedy on the day before Kennedy's announcement to the nation that he was going to withdraw from Vietnam. He was replaced by Johnson who declared to the nation the exact opposite that he would be sending more troops to South Vietnam.
It was as usual the USA who caused this war, the vietnamese were fighting for freedom in their own country. So when I hear lines in this film like "Lord forgive our enemies heathen prayers and let us blow them all to hell" and "the spread of communism must be wiped out" I just get annoyed that people watching this film are not being told the truth about why this all happened in the first place. And just exactly what is wrong with being Buddhist?
Also on top of that the film is NOT entertaining (because it is a graphic/explicit film about a brutal battle). It is NOT educational (because it based on a lie and deception). It serves very little purpose (it does touch on the futility of war but not enough) It is very badly scripted, with some really corny lines. It is very boring for a lot of the time. The "stepford wives" of the soldiers are also so pathetic.
This film is definately "walk out" material, but I don't walk out of films cos I want to see the whole tragic thing so I can offer other people my views on it. If you go to see this one and you feel like walking out, trust me you will not miss anything important you will only miss more of the same.
1/10