So many reviewers have missed the mark in reviewing this film which I started watching again just a few minutes ago. The intrusion of war, with its unfairness, waste, and death, shown in this film reminded me so much of the Vietnam era which I lived through as a young woman of the baby-boomer generation. As a result, I felt compelled to write this review.
Oceanchick accurately described so many factual aspects of the film, but I believe she misinterpreted the objectives of the plot and dialogue. Other reviewers claimed many scenes were underplayed, but I believe this kind of understatement was intentional so that the viewer's mind could expand to envision the deceit, horror, and.death about to be unleashed on the innocent, trapped characters. I saw so much of this.tragedy looming in my peers' lives during Vietnam, along with the ignorance, selfishness, and indifference of parents who willingly wanted to be lied to, to be told the war would bring prosperity as World War II had, and to be told their sons were being sent to an "adventure" no more dangerous than a church picnic or Boy Scout Camp. Of course, everything was wrapped in the flag of patriotism. The worst cruelty was the feigned indifference of a draft board so that the local big-wigs serving on it could use the war as a way to eliminate young men they considered losers, young men they did not like, or young men they believed "unworthy" of their daughters. If I were to put the whole scene into a nutshell, I would call it "Lies and Death.".
Some reviewers called this film a pro-war propaganda film, but I believe it is just the opposite: a war protest film that shows how a war impacts everyone in a society and how a draft board is a merchant of death. If there ever was an advertisement for an all-volunteer army, this film is it.
Oceanchick accurately described so many factual aspects of the film, but I believe she misinterpreted the objectives of the plot and dialogue. Other reviewers claimed many scenes were underplayed, but I believe this kind of understatement was intentional so that the viewer's mind could expand to envision the deceit, horror, and.death about to be unleashed on the innocent, trapped characters. I saw so much of this.tragedy looming in my peers' lives during Vietnam, along with the ignorance, selfishness, and indifference of parents who willingly wanted to be lied to, to be told the war would bring prosperity as World War II had, and to be told their sons were being sent to an "adventure" no more dangerous than a church picnic or Boy Scout Camp. Of course, everything was wrapped in the flag of patriotism. The worst cruelty was the feigned indifference of a draft board so that the local big-wigs serving on it could use the war as a way to eliminate young men they considered losers, young men they did not like, or young men they believed "unworthy" of their daughters. If I were to put the whole scene into a nutshell, I would call it "Lies and Death.".
Some reviewers called this film a pro-war propaganda film, but I believe it is just the opposite: a war protest film that shows how a war impacts everyone in a society and how a draft board is a merchant of death. If there ever was an advertisement for an all-volunteer army, this film is it.