A Basically Good Movie - with a Few Flaws

Rating: Null/10 (22 August 2002)

If I remember a movie clearly six months or more after I've seen it, then it counts as a "good movie" in my books. "We Were Soldiers" is one of those truly memorable movies.
In this outing, Mel Gibson employs the charm and trademark what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of honesty he's known for. However, his performance, as good as it is, doesn't quite live up to the standard he established in Braveheart. Even so, the almost naive, bright-eyed and utterly earnest demeanour Gibson exhibits in his role as Colonel Moore is well-nigh perfect.
As usual, Gibson steals the show, with the other cast members taking supportive or entirely peripheral roles. Which is as it should be, since the movie is intended to be a visual recreation of the experiences Colonel Hal Moore wrote about in "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young". However, the desultory performances from the supporting cast tend to hold back the plot development somewhat and leave the entire movie with a constrained feeling in places.
Others who have posted reviews about this movie criticize Gibson's jingoism and cloying 'my country right or wrong' patriotism. These individuals seem to have missed a crucial point - the purpose behind the patriotism is not to support some pre-conceived political agenda, but rather to illustrate the kind of patriotic feeling that was so prevalent in the United States of 1965.
The battle scenes are breathtaking in their violence - and historical and technical accuracy. The opening scene of the movie, which portrays one of many firefights during the ill-starred French Army defence of Dien Bien Phu, has a brutal realism I've never seen in any other war movie made to date. The Viet Cong soldiers seen in the later parts of the movie are accurately portrayed as the skilled, brave, tactically shrewd, and formidable foes they were.
The main battle scene loses some of its punch because it's overly long. Worse, it's marred by overuse of a droning Gaelic-flavoured lament that never seems to end. Used sparingly, this piece of music could have helped the battle scene become stunning instead of boring. The lame dialogue heard in this part of the movie doesn't help.
The portrayal of the war correspondent who suddenly becomes a master marksman in the heat of the moment stretches credibility so far it's laughable.
Finally, the scene which shows the reaction of the wives as they learn of their husbands' deaths has a depth of pathos and sensitivity that has to be seen to be believed. It even brought a tear or two to my eyes.
All in all, We Were Soldiers is a basically good war movie which could have been supported by a better script. What sets it apart from other Vietnam War flicks is the fact that it examines and accurately portrays the earliest phase of US involvement in Vietnam.
Grade: B(-)