We Were Soldiers

The Title

We all like to take a time out and sit down with our loved ones, and watch a heart touching movie every once in a while. What we don’t do is actually take time to really focus and understand completely what the point of the movie is or what it is trying to get across to the audience. I was able to take time and sit down, and enjoy and evaluate the movie, “We Were Soldiers.” I was able to come to the conclusion that it is a very accurate movie, give or take a few facts. The quality of the cinematography is of great value. The film was indeed satisfying.

The movie was released in 2002. It was one of the most seen movies of that year. It won the ASCAP award and was nominated for three different awards. To be nominated is a privilege in itself. That means it was good enough to win but there was another that was superior in other viewers opinion. Randale Wallace was the writer and director of the film. The motion picture was based upon a book, “We Were Soldiers Once…And Young.” The book was written by Lieutenant General, Herald G. Moore, and was published by Harper Collins. Due to their accreditation, the value of this picture is first-class. Since it was wrote by a General, it has facts from the real perspectives of war. It makes the movie more unique, because it is more realistic, and has facts from the first person’s perspective rather than a second person’s view.

The audience’s reaction to the movie was that it was a must see picture. It was also commonly agreed that it was one of the best seen movies of its time. It is probably one of the best made films since “Braveheart”(1995), in many viewer’s opinion.

In the movie, “We Were Soldiers,” the Vietnam war is beginning. It starts off introducing the main characters and their families, resulting in a more emotional presence. The Americans get called off to battle into the enemies land. What is happening over there is that, North Vietnam is trying to take over South Vietnam. Upon arrival, it is immediate battle. When the Americans land on their soil, it is discovered it will be 30 minutes before another batch of soldiers

can come to aid. The reason is, that is the time frame it takes for the helicopters to transport more soldiers to the battlefield. So the Americans have to hold their land for that long without support, and early there is a tragic loss. In this battle, America has 395 soldiers, these few are going up against 4000. After a long 3 day battle, the Americans effort results in pushing back the enemy to the top of the hill, furthermore, causing the Vietnamese to retreat. There are many lives lost, and this is just the beginning of the war.

The movie is told by a soldier that was there, hence the title, “We Were Soldiers.” If I had to compare the movie to another film in its category, there would be no comparison as to the excellence of this picture. In this film, war is portrayed in very heavy and gory detail. With an extreme level of gruesomeness, it probably has to be one of the most graphic movies I’ve ever gazed my sparkling brown eyes upon ;*) J L K

For the most part this movie is very accurate with the timeline of events that occurred during that era of the war. The director , in his own words, “told it like it was,” which makes it a better movie. In the long run I believe this resulted in a great combination along with superb producing and directing.

The specific events that happened in this movie is the fact that they are in three day battle. But the larger historical setting is that this three day battle will cause a very long war. In this battle, the factions of war were equipped with handguns, bayonets, and pistols.

The filmmaker’s point of view, or as the way I understood his view, is that he wants his viewers to see how war is, and why it is so tragic and painful. The filmmakers motivation in the edifice of this film seems that he wanted a message sent out to our country of the realities of war, because of the war we are currently in.

Unlike its predecessors (Patton), this movie is in good old quality COLOR . However, there are a few silhouette shots to single out the most important character in the scene at the time of the shot. The performances given by the overpaid actors (j/k) were superior. They were able to streamline their emotions and hearts into the very depth and cinematic soul of their characters. Like I said before, the high quality of every