We Were Soldiers (2002)

We Were Soldiers is unique amongst its Vietnam War film brethren in that it never forgets the humanity of the combatants from both sides by not only showing their families and loved ones, but involving them in the drama of the film, fleshing out their characters, and showing their struggle to maintain normalcy whilst their husbands fight halfway around the world. This depiction not only allows audiences to recognize the chaos of the battlefield but also that of back home as the spouses and families fight their own war against time, despair, heartache, and the unknown. The scenes depicting the soldier's final night at home before going halfway around the world to fight in a foreign land, and perhaps never again speak with or lay eyes on their families, is remarkably powerful and poignant. I've probably seen this movie half a dozen times, and this sequence is still hard to watch every time for the flood of emotions it engenders. The older, more mature, and set into the ways of married life I become, the more heartfelt and hard-to-watch such scenes become. We Were Soldiers does a fine job of prompting an emotional response, and such is the sign of an excellent film whereupon repeated viewings of the same material, over time, can let loose the same emotions time and again.

We Were Soldiers is gut-wrenching in more ways than one, and several scenes, both stateside and on the battlefield in Vietnam, may leave even the most stoic of viewers in tears. The film is neither phony nor sappy; instead it contains real, raw emotions that beat the viewer into the ground and never relent until the credits roll. I don't see We Were Soldiers as a pro-war movie by any stretch of the imagination. It simply shows war for the brutal, but sometimes necessary, exercise that it is. We Were Soldiers is best experienced through the Barry Pepper character who portrays photographer and reporter Joe Galloway, who himself is somewhat of an 'audience' to the film. He sees the war through a lens, much as we the audience see it. His experiences and emotions become ours, and his character, even more so than the film's central character of Hal Moore, proves to be the most fitting narrator for the picture.