Realistic Tribute to All Affected by Vietnam

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2015)

There are many people writing reviews who are willing to make claims that this movie is "realistic" or "hogwash" or whatever. As someone who did not fight in the Ia Drang Valley, my first question would be-- how would you know? I will say this movie seemed pretty realistic to me, and Hal Moore and Joe Galloway, the writers of the book and participants in the battle seemed satisfied with it, so I bet you it is pretty real. And already, this is a big plus for this movie.
What I think might be off-putting to some people is that fact that the movie has some big stars--Mel Gibson, Sam Elliot, Greg Kinnear-- that we have seen a million times before. If the actors had been anonymous, I suspect that the movie would have seemed more "realistic." Gibson in fact does his Georgia drawl pretty well, but loses it every so often in one of his "Braveheart" moments of pathos.Similarly, the musical score has a Scottish lament that seems bizarre for this movie. Are we still doing "Braveheart"?
On the upside however, we get corroboration from the participants that the war scenes are pretty real, and they are BRILLIANTLY choreographed. Ever since Saving Private Ryan, these movies have gotten A LOT more graphic. We Were Soldiers has some utterly gruesome scenes in it that are probably quite true to life. Again, this is a big plus, since we don't want to remember the fighting as anything but something very ugly.
Also, unlike some other Vietnam films, there are some believable moments involving two parties not often heard from: the soldiers' wives and the enemy. Hal Moore's wife delivers death telegrams to the other vets' wives so that they don't have to receive them from the Yellow Cab company. I have no doubt that this was true, and the scenes are NOT melodramatic, they are heartbreaking.
Similarly, one of the best characters of the movie is General An of the NVA. He is again terrifically believable as the sanguine commander of the enemy forces, and we see him as a clever, thoughtful and even compassionate commander heartbroken about the state of his country but willing to do what it takes to defend it. The mental duel that he has with Colonel Moore (Mel Gibson) also provides a terrific subplot.
On balance, this movie is really worth it. In making a Vietnam movie that really tries to tell the story realistically, we get an excellent tribute not just to the US Vets, but also to everyone affected, even the Vietnamese foe. It is a tough movie to watch, but it is also perhaps the healthiest response to Vietnam that I have ever seen.