After reading some comments on this movie, I can't help but notice there seems to be some confusion between what is a movie and what is a documentary.
There are a number of technical flaws in this, but they are all fine with me. I like it just the way it is. There is no glorification, there is no immortal hero soldier on the 'goodies' side, there is no censorious look down the nose at war and the people in it. Instead there is a portrayal of volunteer career soldiers dealing with things in a real way. It doesn't deal with the 'nasho' (national service) civilian soldier, put into combat because his conscription number came up. It deals with real soldiers and attempts to portray them as such. This aspect impresses me most as the movie gives some working insight into minds of soldiers. And besides some small character building, there are no obvious transparent attempts to tug at the heartstrings. I'm being taken along for the ride with them instead of having the ride forced down my throat.
Being so numerically and financially overshadowed by the U.S. involvement, its often overlooked that Australia played a size-able role in Vietnam's struggle. Its good to see a movie highlighting other's involvement in that particular theater, be it Australian, South Korean, French, or even the South Vietnamese themselves.
You could nitpick technicalities about this movie for ever, but considering things like the budget limitation and location constraints, the only real thing that this movie lacks is Sam Neil and Mel Gibson. They would of been the right age at the time, and considering the other characters went on to great things, or at the very least stable careers, it seems sad that they don't appear somewhere given the timing and kick off points of their careers.
I highly recommend this as it entertains whilst staying as true to the truth as need be.
There are a number of technical flaws in this, but they are all fine with me. I like it just the way it is. There is no glorification, there is no immortal hero soldier on the 'goodies' side, there is no censorious look down the nose at war and the people in it. Instead there is a portrayal of volunteer career soldiers dealing with things in a real way. It doesn't deal with the 'nasho' (national service) civilian soldier, put into combat because his conscription number came up. It deals with real soldiers and attempts to portray them as such. This aspect impresses me most as the movie gives some working insight into minds of soldiers. And besides some small character building, there are no obvious transparent attempts to tug at the heartstrings. I'm being taken along for the ride with them instead of having the ride forced down my throat.
Being so numerically and financially overshadowed by the U.S. involvement, its often overlooked that Australia played a size-able role in Vietnam's struggle. Its good to see a movie highlighting other's involvement in that particular theater, be it Australian, South Korean, French, or even the South Vietnamese themselves.
You could nitpick technicalities about this movie for ever, but considering things like the budget limitation and location constraints, the only real thing that this movie lacks is Sam Neil and Mel Gibson. They would of been the right age at the time, and considering the other characters went on to great things, or at the very least stable careers, it seems sad that they don't appear somewhere given the timing and kick off points of their careers.
I highly recommend this as it entertains whilst staying as true to the truth as need be.