Post-World War II Movies - Essay Example

We Were Soldiers Once Thesis: "We Were Soldiers Once" Presented Details that are Real and in the Point of View of a Credible Individual which the Young Must Know Introduction: There are always a lot of good books and movies available for almost about anything. There are those which are documentary type non-fictions, fictions passing for documentary, and plain and honest documentaries. Much has been written and filmed about wars, fictional and otherwise, mostly written by individuals from aggressor countries like the United States of America. Some of these present political, economic, and personal point of views. But majority presents plain aggression for mass consumption, mainly male audiences for possible blockbusters or bestsellers. Others are simply honest. The Vietnam war (and other American wars) has produced a long list of books that include among others: "War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoir", "Inventing Vietnam: The War in Film and Television", "Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World's War Zones", "Four Hours in My Lai", "Brennan's War: Vietnam 1965-1969", "The New Face of War", "Following Ho Chi Minh: The Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel", "A Rumor of War", "The 13th Valley", "The Killing Zone" (Grunt Space, 2004). From this list emerged another long list of Vietnam-inspired war movies and television series. And then, there's "We Were Soldiers Once and Young." This book inspired the movie directed by Randall Wallace and starring Mel Gibson. The book and the movie present unadulterated details about war, not from the point of view of historians, politicians, and wide-viewed bestselling authors but from the individuals who were there. Backgrounder: Ferguson (2003) presented a detailed military and national background about the events that surrounded the la Drang memoir of Moore. The war in Vietnam was considered a "boil" during America's Cold War with the former USSR and China. While Vietnam was fresh from its independence from colonial France, a revolution erupted as the communists controlled northern Vietnam. The 1956 Geneva Accord paved for a national election which was marred by communist rebels called the Viet Cong. America per se was under turmoil at that time as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, with a non-interventionist new president Lyndon Johnson. Nevertheless, Johnson sent troops, using airmobile warfare initiated with the 11th Air Assault Division renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division, 7th Battalion with the mission: to find and kill the enemy. Discussion: "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young" is a book written by retired Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, battalion commander of the 1/7 Cavalry during the la Drang campaign, together with UPI war reporter Joseph L. Galloway. It was produced with intensive interviews among Vietnam war soldiers (survivors) and their families, loved ones, and all those who were directly involved and affected by the war. Moore wrote that every Hollywood movie had shown it the wrong way, which inspired him to write the book, "to make it right this time." While it is necessary to indicate political and global trends in presenting a part of history such as the United States' war with Vietnam, Gilbert (2004) acknowledged that "Light of another kind can be found in the examinations of the wars in Viet Nam provided by world literature and the world cinema," (p 14). This is indicative of the presence and essence of other details which are all contributory to historical facts that cannot be ignored altogether. Gilbert (2004) aptly placed it when he wrote "Viet Nam has greatly contributed to the human record of the strife-torn and oppressed. From the Western-influenced individualist style that emphasized the alienation of the self to the triumph of social realism that identified death on the battlefield as the highest form of self-realization, Vietnamese prose and poetry reflects the transition from a traditional to a colonial to a modern society that many people have made in the modern era." While the book written by Moore and Galloway (1992) was itself another point of view to reckon with, presenting details appreciated and actually approved by the survivors of Vietnam themselves, these details no matter how painful and idiosyncratic they may be in whoever else's point of view are part of history, Vietnam's and the US'. Historically, the details in the book cannot be erased. In detail, it was written (Moore and Galloway, 1992) that "The enemy was all over, at least a couple of hundred of them walking around for three or four minutes; it seemed like three or four hours. They were shooting and machine-gunning our wounded and laughing and giggling. I knew they'd kill me if they saw I was alive. When they got near, I played dead. I kept my eyes open and stared at a small tree. I knew that dead men had their eyes open. Then one of the North Vietnamese came up, looked at me, then kicked me, and I flopped over. I guess he thought I was dead. There was blood running out of my mouth, my arm, my legs." As gory as the details may seem, Moore and Galloway (1992) nevertheless presented a sympathetic glimpse of the foe, the Vietnamese as humans themselves. As Gilbert (2004) placed it, the movie served as "the small opening of the cultural lens [] mark the beginning of a trend in American cinema, the latter will find itself on a parallel course with its Vietnamese counterpart," (p 17). In the same light, the movie presented a gripping detail of what the soldiers were, in their youth and innocence, sense of adventure, their will to win and survive, as well as in their most gruesome, debasing and hopeful moments. As played by award-winning actor Mel Gibson, the role of Moore, Greg Ninnear as Major Bruce "Snake" Crandall, Sam Elliott as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, Chris Klein as 2nd Lt. Jack Geoghegan, and even Madeleine Stowe's role as Moore's wife Julie, were credible characters of humans. They were not presented as heroes (nor a heroine), but ordinary folks going about their ordinary lives, only this time, they were in the war, not as some kind of un-involved leaders, but the pawns. The film, nevertheless, presented some commercial overtures like use of modern music and climactic scenes such as fixed bayonets while it lacked details about the Vietnamese victory over supporting American troops the day following the event's account, clearly explored in the book. Conclusion: Near or far, individuals need to know, if not for historical and social sciences reasons, for humanity's sake, that within history, these stuffs best-selling books and Hollywood movies are made of, are real, actual experiences of individuals which should not only be a part of a painful history for both countries but also a lesson that young people must be taught about. "Victory" has been tainted with myths and imaginative colors that have recruited young soldiers from all nations. It has captured the spirit of adventure of the young, while it is being fired by ambitions both selfish and myopic by the aged officials of lands. War is a paranoid leader's answer to most national problems, and "We were SoldiersOnce" the book and the movie are a reminder that this should not be the case. Only war economies win, not the soldiers that go in a war, either in Vietnam or another smaller territory. But most of all, winners and losers, individuals involved in wars are always losers. Reference: Ferguson, Andrew. (2003). "Review: We Were Soldiers Once and Young". From http://www.princeton.edu/ferguson/adw/index.shtml Gilbert, Marc. (2004). "Paper Trails: Connecting Viet Nam and World History Through Documents, Film, Literature and Photographs." The Journal of American History, 86, 3. Grunt Space. (2004) "Vietnam Resource Collection." Accessed from http://grunt.space.swri.edu/resour.htm Moore, Harold and Joseph L. Galloway. (1992). We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young : Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam (2004 ed). Presidio Press. Read More