'The Hurt Locker' and Vietnam War precedents

Some of these — you can bet on this — will be fairly obvious rip-offs.

To date, there have been very few films about America's current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but keep in mind that most Vietnam War films came well after the end of that other very long war.

Under the assumption that all wars are similar at some level, and that Hollywood tends to re-use established approaches, the following list of notable films inspired by Vietnam may be a useful guide.

* “Go Tell The Spartans” Realistic very low-budget portrayal of early U.S. Vietnam involvement, especially insightful regarding Viet Cong infrastructure.

* “84 Charlie MoPic” Realistic hand-held doc camera portrayal of fear and frustration, terror and death for an American patrol. Creator Patrick Duncan is a Vietnam vet, not a Hollywood pro; the film is rough and very real.

* “Apocalypse Now” Effective allegory drawn from Joseph Conrad's novel “The Heart of Darkness.” Exaggerated but historically grounded portrayal, inspired by the Phoenix Program to eliminate Viet Cong officials, strategic role of Cambodia (and Laos) rightly emphasized.

* “Breaker Morant” Brilliant Vietnam allegory drawn from the Boer War, historically accurate, early evidence of the very strong development of modern cinema of Australia, a U.S. ally in Vietnam.

* “We Were Soldiers” Realistic Vietnam combat, by Hollywood standards, portraying Ia Drang Valley battle of November 1965 and context. Mel Gibson's usual artistic flair and acting genius a central element.

* “Full Metal Jacket” Realistic U.S. home-front portrayal of Marine Corps training; overdone, judgmental portrayal of Hue city combat in 1968 Tet Offensive.

* “The Deer Hunter” Realistic U.S. home-front portrayal of who went to war; Vietnam sequences intended to be allegorical but very bizarre.

* “Platoon” Technically realistic, simplistic morality-play plot; war as cartoon.

* “Hamburger Hill” World War II Pacific-style combat misportrayed as Vietnam battle.

* “The Thin Red Line” Vietnam-inspired anti-war angst misrepresents James Jones” epic novel of Guadalcanal death struggle in World War II.

* “The Green Berets” John Wayne”s pro-Vietnam War film a great gift to the anti-war movement. The Duke gets one star forearnest effort. Classic Hollywood blunder moment: the Sun sets in the East.

* “Casualties of War” Very ugly Hollywood anti-war/make-a-buck effort, truly gross exploitation.

Arthur I. Cyr is the Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War” (NYU Press and Macmillan). He can be reached at acyr@carthag.edu

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email