Nationalist propaganda

Rating: 3/10 (27 February 2003)

"One more thing dear Lord, about our enemies, ignore their heathen prayers and help us blast those little b*****ds straight to hell."
"It's when some people, in another country or any country, try to take the lives of other people, and soldiers like your daddy, you know it's my job to go over there and stop them."

Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Moore (who served in the Korean War)

"We visited 12 representative sites at which massacres were committed in 1950-51 by U.S. forces, or South Korean paramilitary and military units under the command of U.S. forces, meeting many of the survivors and receiving extensive, riveting testimony from more than two dozen witnesses. Several of these sites have only recently been revealed, including: (1) a rugged mountain location near Kwangju where reportedly a biological (mycotoxin T-2?) or chemical (gas or herbicide?) warfare agent (a "whitish powder" or mist sprayed from light planes) was used causing a dark skin discoloration prior to killing several hundred villagers in the fall of 1951, suggesting death from a type of hemorrhagic fever; (2) a newly discovered second Japanese mine near Kyongsang that served as a depository for hundreds of bodies; (3) the Jin Chi Ryung railroad tunnel near Chinju; and (4) the Wonbuk railroad tunnel near Masan." (Revelations of US War Crimes in Korea, 2001).
It is hard to empathize with Gibson's character from the start, as he appears to be blinded with nationalist sentiment. He fails to mature, in terms of his nationalist views, throughout the movie. However, I don't want to say the entire movie "We Were Soldiers" was meaningless propaganda. At the end, the movie offers a humane and insightful comment:
"Such a tragedy... So this will become an American War. And the end will be the same... except for the numbers who will die before we get there."

Don Duong as Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An