The Vietnam War, however, was less straightforward, a trait shared by many movies made about it. It is easy to forget that for a while, especially during the Reagan years, feature films about the Vietnam War came fast and furiously. Some of those, like Platoon, retain something of their original auras. Others, like Rambo, have drifted from public consciousness. (I recently spoke to a college-age audience and found that though they had heard of the Rambo films, none had seen any of them.)
Yet, as America struggles to find resolution to war in Iraq, it would seem an ideal time to revisit some of the movies that the Vietnam War generated. On Sunday night, viewers tuned to CBS can check out 2002’s We Were Soldiers, which stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the true story of early American action in Vietnam, the battle at Ia Drang Valley in 1965. Unlike many war movies, this one not only focuses on battles, but also shows something of the havoc war causes for the private lives of soldiers. This focus, important as it is, seldom occurs in war-movie classics. This dimension adds to our experience as viewers, however, which makes We Were Soldiers a notable example of the genre.
Of course, in 1965, Americans did not know the war in Vietnam would drag on until the mid-1970s, or that the United States would not end up the victor. The Ia Drang episode already did reveal, however, that although American troops usually could come away victorious in any given battle, the costs could be especially high — so high that by the 1970s, many Americans were no longer prepared to pay them. In this time of heated rhetoric about war, We Were Soldiers is worth another look.
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