I saw "casualties of war" last night - really pissed me off

[HEyHEY]

Seriously. I know its easy to play armchair soldier. But, if I'm holding a machine gun there's no way in hell four guys are gonna get away with raping an innocent young lady. I don't care if even they have guns too. I'd rather die than live the rest of my life knowing I did nothing.
Either way, that movie was way more disturbing than I needed to see on a Tuesday evening.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

1. I totally agree with you ...

on all counts. It, like war, is very disturbing.

On edit-
You might enjoy FTA more, it's one of my all time
favorites, have you seen it?

[HEyHEY]

2. No, what's it about?

[asteroid2003QQ47]

4. Hearts & Minds with humor. Worth a look...IF you can find it.

That's a very big IF.

The movie opened in theaters in 1972 the same week that Jane Fonda made her controversial trip to Hanoi, North Vietnam. Within a week of its release, American-International Pictures withdrew it from circulation. Director Francine Parker speculated that "calls were made from high up in Washington, possibly from the Nixon White House, and the film just disappeared."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068562/

I first saw it in '72 in a very off the beaten path theater in Boston. I was one of about 6 people present and it was pulled after 3 days.

It is said Jane Fonda will not allow it to be re-issued and I can kind of understand why but it's message is timeless.

[LanternWaste]

3. Yeah... I'd agree that CoW is certainly not a light-hearted film.

Yeah... I'd agree that CoW is certainly not a light-hearted film (I'd also go so far as to say it was Michael J Fox's best dramatic role).

Not being an armchair soldier either, but having a few years behind me allowing me some perspectives, I honestly can't say what I would have done at age eighteen in the same situation. I'd like to say what you did-- that a line would be drawn.

My friends and I (friends of just over twenty years-- we went to HS together) recently had a discussion re: what if we were eighteen in 1943. And to a man, we realized that as much as we'd like to say each one of us would have been a hero, if push came to shove, there's just no way of knowing-- we may have been the coward, hiding behind the guy in front of us.

I've recently re-read Studs Terkel's 'The Good War' and I was amazed by the amount of soldiers (of all nationalities) who said in so many words that their only goal was to not be a coward. Not a goal of being the hero, or of Doing The Right Thing, or even the goal of surviving-- they were simply afraid of being a coward.

[PassingFair]

5. Hugh Thompson.

:patriot:

HERO of My Lai.

I only learned about him when he died.

There should be statues of him EVERYWHERE!