FLASHBACK REVIEW: We Were Soldiers

Originally published March 7, 2002

(Note: I mention late in the review that my generation doesn't understand what it's like to live through a long war. We invaded Iraq almost exactly a year later, rendering that sentence irrelevant.)

Courtesy of Paramount

In the past few months, Hollywood has released many war films. A few years ago, war movies were a rarity but the success of Saving Private Ryan changed that. It is memorable because of its graphically realistic war violence. For the first time, moviegoers witnessed what soldiers actually went through in war.

Since the success of Ryan, it seems war movies now have to be graphic in order to compete. We Were Soldiers continues the trend of graphic violence but takes it a step farther.

The film stars Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore, a respected military officer who is also a devoted family man. He has moved his family to Georgia so he can train soldiers preparing for Vietnam. While there, he meets Lt. Jack Geoghegan (Chris Klein, from American Pie) a young soldier who has just become a father.

Geoghegan is worried about fighting now that he has a family and asks Moore about being a soldier and a father. Moore tells him, “I hope that being good at one makes me better at the other.” Moore uses this philosophy in training. He tells his men that as their leader he will be first on the field and last to leave. He also refuses to leave a man behind.

Troubles in Vietnam escalate. Moore and his troops are finally sent to fight. They come under fire immediately and are greatly outnumbered. Things are also bad for the wives at home. Telegrams notifying of death come so often, and in such numbers, that they are delivered by cab drivers. No priest, no military officer, just a taxi. Moore’s wife (Madeleine Stowe) decides to deliver the telegrams herself so it is not as impersonal.

Throughout the movie, the men come to grips with the war they are fighting, especially Joe Galloway (Barry Pepper). He is a photographer who wants to make sure the story is told back home. He is forced to put down his camera and pick up a gun in order to survive. The movie opens and closes with his voice, of the story being told.

We Were Soldiers manages to find new ways to stun. It is just as graphic as Ryan but with one difference. From the time Moore steps onto the battlefield until the end, the action doesn’t let up. The audience doesn’t get a break. The movie cuts away from the battle but only to show the gut-wrenching ordeal of wives finding out about their dead husbands. This is just as painful to watch as the war.

The generation born in the 1980s (myself included) learns about war in school but we have never really experienced what it is like to live through one. My generation remembers the Gulf War but we’re barely old enough to remember all of the details. We only hear about the war in Afghanistan in passing now. We hear about how horrible wars of the past were, especially Vietnam, but we cannot comprehend the staggering body counts that they caused. Our minds cannot quite grasp the fact that 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam.

We Were Soldiers gives us a way to see how horrible the experience actually was. As entertainment it’s first-rate, based on the book We Were Soldiers Once…and Young, by the real-life Hal Moore and Joe Galloway. Mel Gibson gives a fine performance as always. The supporting cast is exceptional.

What makes this movie excellent is the fact that it pays such a loving tribute to the people who had to endure the nightmare that the movie portrays. It honors the men who went into battle wearing the bracelets of their newborn babies on their arms. It honors the wives who were left to wonder if they would see their husbands again. A lot of movies that deal with Vietnam portray the soldiers as evil. We Were Soldiers paints a seemingly more accurate picture. They are honorable men protecting each other and trying to get back to their families.

We Were Soldiers is rated R for graphic war violence and for language.