A moving, powerful story

Rating: Null/10 (28 March 2002)

This is a very powerful and moving story, which really moved my parents and myself. It tells the story of a colonel, Hal Moore, who is determined not to let the Vietnamese soldiers massacre his people like they did the French ten years from the movie's setting. It tells the story of the 400+ men who fought a battle for three days in the "Valley of Death" (Landing Zone X-Ray) while surrounded by North Vietnamese soldiers.
However, this is not just your average war story. For a full hour of the movie, the backstory is told of these mens' families, wives, and children. Instead of seeing them as soldiers, we see them as actual people. And this is not just the American soldiers. The North Vietnamese are also humanized instead of seen as some faceless, nameless enemy.
This is a true story, based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" by Harold Moore. The names of the people who died are in the Vietnam War Memorial and also play just before the ending credits of the movie. This gives the film a great impact, and I can't wait to read the book.
While the majority of the film after the first hour takes place in Vietnam, as the men fight, parts of it also take place in the States, showing the lives of the wives while, one by one, they learn of their husband's fate. These are very tragic scenes, just as moving as the war scenes.
I loved this movie. I don't generally go in for war movies, but this one was truly great.