A Good Piece of Historical Fiction

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2002)

When the producers state in their advertising that a movie is based on a true story, they are telling you that it is historical fiction. That is the case with this flick. It was NOT the first big battle in the Viet Nam war. There were bigger battles prior to this battle but the battle that the film is based on resulted in a change in the strategy of the Viet Nam War. Unfortunately the film fails to note the significance, which was that Gen. Westmoreland, lacking any common sense decided that the US would win the war by attrition. The only problem with his theory was that the US would have to kill 400,000 North Vietnamese every year.
For the sake of Hollywood the film attributes some of the actions to the wrong participants; events occur in the wrong order, and events are distorted. Any veteran of the War will criticize the movie because of its placing soldiers in the open when in fact there was no open space in the heavy jungle.
But all in all, it is a picture well worth seeing. It shows soldiers in the positive aspects, if there is anything positive about war, instead of deliberate distortions as has all to often happened in Viet Nam war movies (such as Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter). This film is the best film ever made on the Viet Nam War and viewers will better understand how the war was fought and how tough it was. For those who have been in combat no movie can even get close to what it is like on the battle field, but this movie does as good a job as any. Mel Gibson does an excellent job of portraying the battalion commander.