"Daddy, are they going to try to take your life away? Yes, Cecelia, they're going to try but I'm not going to let them." 
Rating: Null/10 (8 October 2002)

Mel Gibson stars as General Harold Moore, who wrote the book, so we know before the film begins that he makes good on his promise to his young daughter, to not let the Viet Cong "take his life away." But in the end he says, "I'll never forgive myself - that my men died and I didn't." The film covers a key battle in November 1965 that occurs over three days, but Moore served for over 9 more months in Viet Nam.
However, this film is only secondarily about a battle fought almost 40 years ago. Instead, it is really about the wives and children left behind, waiting for their husbands and fathers to return, or for the dreaded telegram delivered as a death notice. We get to know the wives and children stationed at Ft Bragg, Georgia. We see the young mothers and their babies, the wives getting together for companionship. The peaceful life between telegrams, the grief upon delivery of the next one. Moore's wife actually takes on the task herself, getting the telegrams from the cab driver, and delivering them personally, comforting her friends. And finally, the return of her own husband, a deeply religious man who can barely accept the loss of his men.
I saw this film on DVD, but did not get to look at any of the extras. The battle scenes are among the best ever filmed, although they took pains to make them as graphic and gory as possible. I suppose that helps us to really detest war. The surround sound is used to good effect, you can hear bullets and helicopters surrounding you during the heat of battle. However the video transfer is just ordinary, more grainy than most current releases, but adequately sharp.
As the story ends, we hear Moore's voice-over as a young American wife reads his letter of condolences, looking at her deceased husband's photo, and the camera dissolves into a young Vietnamese wife reading a similar letter while looking at a photo of her deceased husband's photo. And we see the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, a sober message during these times when our own president, who stayed far from the Viet Nam war, is now threatening war against Iraq. Sobering thoughts.