We Were Soldiers (2002)

This has to be the most real war story I have seen... ever. I found Black Hawk Down laughable, Windtalkers sad, but this... wow.

This is an excellent film that tells the true tale from the biography of Lt. Col. Hal Morris. It shows the horrors that the families go through, as well as the men. It even shows how the "enemy" are people too.

I would like to make a personal editorial here, since I feel a great wrong has been posted about this movie by some people here... To all the people calling this flag waving propaganda, you obviously didn't watch the movie, hence I feel your votes should be removed for this film. If anything, it showed the horrors of war, how our men suffered for what was believed to be a noble mission, and how in spite of terrible odds they overcame, and the promise that "No one will be left behind" was kept. I know people who were there. They ended up having nightmares because it hit so close to home. This was REAL. If it were propaganda, everyone would get home and we would all be happy. You want to talk Propaganda, watch almost any John Wayne movie, or even Patton. This was not. Men died. Good Men. Family men - on both sides. Yes, the only way we survived that battle was superior technology, but it was the only reason. They were dropped into an ambush, yet they survived. Lt. Col. Morris didn't come back proud of what he did, he was just happy the mission was accomplished and they survived. Yet, he was hurt badly by every wasted life. Propaganda? You totally missed the point! Is propaganda showing how we killed our own men because of our mistakes? Lies? Tell me, were you there? I didn't think so. Unless you were there, stop with the misinformation. Your the ones spreading propaganda and lies, not the film! If you want to get picky, then I will cover one more thing. Was there some fictionalizing? Of course! they had to squeeze in over 40 characters into a few leads! Lots of stuff had to be cut, so things were glossed over and cut. I'm not saying it's perfect in character detail, but the overall story was left in tact. This was not a Hollywood story even with the changes. The plot did not deceive. That battle was as real as a recreation could be. Even Lt. Col. Hal Morris, who is retired and was there, says so. Even my ex-boss and a couple other friends, who were either at that battle or at Nam, said so. If anyone has a right to point out lies, it's our ignored and abused Nam veterans.

My apologies to everyone else for that rant.

Fmovies: I for one am someone who was inspired to read the book "We were Soldiers Once and Young" after seeing this movie. WWS is about a distinct event that actually happened. SGM Plumley was a soldier's soldier, with five combat jumps in three wars and an astounding three combat infantry badges. LTC Moore was the sort of leader who could keep his head and lead his troops through the worst of battle. People who complain of clichés in this movie might as well complain that people in 18th century movies wear three-cornered hats.

To those looking for an anti-war message, it is there. When Moore goes to Division headquarters and gets his mission, he asks about projected enemy in his area of operations. The staff officer standing next to the general says "a manageable number." To this Moore responds with words to the effect of "which means you have no idea." It turns out that Moore's battalion gets dropped on top of a vastly larger enemy force (if I remember correctly, they get dropped right next to an NVA brigade). Ordinarily, it order to assure success in attack, you want to have three times the numbers of your enemy. In this case, the ratio was 4:1 going the other way. Then the battle is about how artillery and air support makes up the difference in numbers.

The obvious criticism here is that the command was fumbling around in the dark. At the end of the movie, the names of the 70+ men who died are prominently displayed on the screen. A military mind is not treasonous and will not disrespect its superiors, but it will let facts speak for themselves.

The next comment is only tangentially related to this movie. However, many voices here have taken the opportunity to vent their views on Vietnam, so I feel compelled to put things in a broader historical context.

There was a war that did not take place between 1945 and the fall of the Berlin wall. It would have been called WWIII. The Soviet Union and the US stood eye-to-eye for 40+ years, but did not blink. It was an ideological conflict with an evil that meant death to 50+ million people in communist countries in this century. It was conflict with a system that vastly constrained freedom. Fortunately for the world, the US finally prevailed. The struggle fought between communism and the west was fought in a variety of ways: in public relations, in sports, in propaganda, and in a series of proxy wars. In Korea, Greece, Vietnam, Afghanistan and a variety of smaller stages, East contested with West. To the people caught up in these local conflicts, these wars were absolute tragedies. However, in the grand scheme of things, these conflicts pale to insignificance when compared to the 500,000,000 who would have died in WWIII.

Behind even a forgotten war lies the memory of the fallen...This movie is definitely among the top 10 films ever made. It places the viewer right in the middle of the Vietnam War, grabs their emotions and sets them free. This movie commemorates the memories and makes heroes of each and every husband, brother, and son involved in a forgotten war- a war that was dismissed and frowned upon by the American nation as a whole. The film also takes the viewer into the home of the soldier. It invades the private life of the loved ones at home. We feel as though we are a part of the family in one scene, and the buddy of a fallen soldier in the next. A wife, child, friend of a soldier gone to war to fight for an ungrateful nation one minute, and the next the brave and loyal soldier. This moving and true story will take its viewer and bestow upon them a closer understanding, and a greater respect and gratefulness for our nation's true heroes.

We Were Soldiers fmovies. I should never be surprised that people, who wouldn't recognize Principle, much less Honor, Duty, or Country if it introduced itself, see virtue as vice. As one who served in that war, I found the movie to be factual to the point of pain. Those who call this movie racist, lack vocabulary. or an understanding of racism. I don't know which is sadder. This movie tells a part of a soldier's story very well. Soldiers march to a different drummer, how tragic that so many, today, still refuse to honor those who protected them.

The millions in Indo-China murdered at the hands of the Communist cry that our "racism" was so poorly lead at the highest civilian levels that we abandon them. Their blood is not on my hands or on the hands of my fellow soldiers. It is on the hands of those who are so blind they refuse to see. A valid case could be made that that there are errors in the story, certainly it doesn't tell the rest of the story, or of the next part of this battle where US casualties were 40%. What it does tell it tells very well. Those men were volunteers, and their nobility shows in this movie. I recommend it, especially for any who would want to understand those who served at that time.

"We Were Soldiers" is based on a real life battle of the Viet Nam war that took place in 1965 in a remote part of Viet Nam. It is based on a book by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway who are portrayed in the film by Mel Gibson and Barry Pepper respectively.

The film opens with a depiction of the 1954 slaughter of French troops by the Vietnamese army. Twenty one years later Lt. Col Moore (Gibson) and his battalion of 395 men are thrust unknowingly into the same hornet's nest consisting of some 4,000 battle hardened Viet Nam regulars who have been fighting their enemies for many years.

Director Randall Wallace tells the story from three perspectives. Firstly from the viewpoint of the Americans. Outnumbered ten to one they face impossible odds. How Col. Moore rallies his troops and gets them to pull together as a team is a central theme of the picture. Secondly, the story is told from the viewpoint of the wives and families left behind and the problems they have to deal with. Lastly, the Vietnamese army is shown not as unfeeling monsters, but as a professional army defending their beliefs and territory.

The battle scenes are as realistic and convincing as any war movie that you will ever see. We suffer through the casualties both on the battlefield and at home along with the participants. The special effects are seamless and exciting.

Mel Gibson gives a convincing performance as Moore and if you watch the DVD, you can see the amazing similarities between the two men. Madeleine Stowe plays Julie Moore and Keri Russell plays Barbara Geoghegan two of the wives who take on the unenviable task of delivering those dreaded telegrams to the widows from the War Department. Chris Klein plays Russell's husband Jack a new officer and father. His scene with Gibson in the base chapel is memorable. Greg Kinnear plays Captain Crandall the head of Moore's helicopter fleet. Don Duong is very effective as the Vietnamese commander. But acting cudos go to veteran Sam Elliot as the crusty Sgt. Major Plumley.

"We Were Soldiers" is a gripping Viet Nam war drama told in a way that reflects ALL of the participants in an impartially realistic way. As Hank Moore says on the DVD, They finally got it right.

In November of 1968, the North Vietnamese still held to the old principle of "Control the Central Highlands and you control Vietnam". Three years to the month after the battle of LZ X-Ray, I led a LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol)team from Duc Co south toward the Ia Drang River. We never made it to the river. Instead, we spent a very long afternoon of E&E, along with intermittent combat. Thus, my worst day of the war was within 1/2 mile of LZ X-Ray.

I know that area well. The locations for the movie were excellent. LTG. Moore's principle was still in use, ie, when the Air Force choppers I had contacted on an emergency radio picked us up, my foot was the last to leave the ground. (Not heroism, just the way we did it.) By the way,Those aren't "radio towers", they are parachute training towers on Eubanks Field, Fort Benning Ga. (Almost the same shot as in "The Green Berets" when Wayne saw the airborne recruits running shirtless in formation.

I was in college during the battle, but what I learned later I saw confirmed in the book and movie. Thank you General Moore and Mr. Galloway for the book and thank you Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace for the movie. (Being of Scottish descent, I also thank you two for "Braveheart")