Soldierly virtues

Rating: 8/10 (14 September 2013)

In an interview in "Vietnam Magazine" some years ago, Joe Galloway said that although there were changes, he felt the movie of "We Were Soldiers" was faithful to the book he co-wrote with Colonel Hal Moore, and also to the real events. Editorial comments in the same magazine indicated that many veterans appreciated this movie far more than "Apocalypse Now" or "Platoon".
"We Were Soldiers" is a straight soldier's story without the weird baggage that accompanies so many Vietnam War movies. No Russian roulette, no terminations with extreme prejudice, no surfing colonels. It was also a battle fought without civilians caught in the crossfire, which so defined the Vietnam War.
"We Were Soldiers" is about the formation of a battalion of the US Air Mobile Division and its baptism of fire in South Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley in 1965. The story is told from the point of view of the unit's commander, Hal Moore, played by Mel Gibson. Moore's wife, played by Madeleine Stowe, also has a pivotal role in the story, which shows the impact of the battle on the soldier's families as they await news at home.
Moore's battalion traces its heritage to Custer's ill-fated 7th Cavalry, and the Little Big Horn is always at the back of the modern commander's mind.
Moore's men land by helicopter, and although greatly outnumbered, engage the enemy in a fierce battle. The real life Colonel Hal Moore felt the battle was a draw; US forces withdrew, but although their casualties were heavy, the North Vietnamese casualties were many times higher.
Gibson's movie concentrates just on the actions of Moore's men. In his book, Moore relates how two other units were eventually drawn into the fighting. When they withdrew the following day, they were ambushed – the real events were not quite as tidy as in the movie.
Gibson is fine as Colonel Hal Moore, no doubt a challenge with the real man, according to the film's publicity, a visitor to the set. Mel gives the role depth and his pain seems real when he has to order his men into situations that could cost them their lives.
Sam Elliott's grizzled Sergeant Major Plumley, based on the real-life soldier, adds a role worthy to be mentioned with the great screen noncoms. Greg Kinnear as Major Bruce Crandall, who leads the helicopter pilots, also turns in a compelling performance.
The film doesn't glorify war, but the sequences where the movie falls down tend to be where the filmmakers included some very standard "Hollywood" interpretations of war.
Although the Vietnamese are portrayed with respect in some scenes, in others they are mowed down mercilessly. Towards the end, many North Vietnamese conveniently move mid-camera to die in a swirl of slow motion arterial spray accompanied by Nick Glennie-Smith's dirge-like score – a hackneyed technique even by the late 1960's.
These scenes create a jarring note, along with those in the beginning where the French are wiped out in a perfunctory manner. Although defeated on RC4, the paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion in particular fought with desperate bravery and deserved a little more cinematic respect. The sequence looks fake, and leaves an unfair perception.
With that said, the positives outweigh the negatives in "We Were Soldiers".
The scenes where the families of the soldiers are informed about the deaths of loved ones are genuinely affecting, and must still touch raw emotions in the people involved.
Volatile politics and events such as Mai Lai have overshadowed the fact that many Vietnam-era soldiers fought actions at the small unit level that were as bloody as some of the worst battles of WW2. Gibson's movie helps balance the ledger. It shows the disproportionate price some people pay – physically and spiritually – in the service of their country. Although Vietnam is an old war now, the essential message of "We Were Soldiers" is still timely, because some people are still paying that price.