COURAGE UNDER FIRE
A film review by Viboon
Copyright 1996 Viboon
This 1996 film is directed by Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall), stars Denzel Washington (Crimson Tide), Meg Ryan (When a Man Loves a Woman) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Labamba). It has a running time of 155 minutes. There are some explosive combat violence and some foul language, but no nudity, gore nor sex.
Courage Under Fire is the first big-budget Hollywood movie about the Gulf War. An Army Lieutenant Colonel, Nat Serling (Denzel Washington), ordered his men to fire at a seemingly enemy tank in the confusion of a night battle. However, it turned out that the tank was one of their own and he had indirectly killed his close friend. Pardoned, but ridden with guilt and disillusioned, Serling was re-assigned to the Pentagon to investigate a candidate for the Medal of Honour -- Capt. Karen Walden (Meg Ryan), the first woman ever nominated for the award. It was reported that Walden had lead a helicopter rescue mission that saved many lives, but ultimately sacrificing her's. On paper, Walden certainly deserved the medal. However, as the investigation wore on, there were more questions than answers, and Serling became increasing confused by the testimony of the eyewitnesses. His search for the truth, both in his life and in Walden's death, was what the movie was about.
The film explored some sub-plots along the way. First was the self-destructive nature of Serling. After the friendly fire situation, he was no more the macho "kill 'em all" type. Instead, he became an alcoholic, had frequent nightmares and was unable to connect with his family -- the investigation was the only thing that kept him in one piece, will he ever recover? Then the movie also touched on the issue of women in combat, even with everything being equal, will they be treated so? Also surfaced was the relationship of Serling and his mentor, Gen. Hershberg (Michael Moriarty). The latter wanted the medal to be approved (under pressure from the White House) and the friendly fire incident forgotten, however Serling had different ideas. How will the conflict be resolved?
Courage Under Fire could be viewed as a courtroom movie without the courtroom. The investigation into Walden's last day made up most of the movie. And here lies the movie's greatest strength. Eyewitness accounts can be unreliable, but several somewhat bizarre accounts on the same event can provide much mystery. As Serling listened to the eyewitnesses, the audience were treated to the visuals of the story. Surprisingly, the movie did not feel repetitive at all. The writer had taken great care that the story flowed even during flashbacks, and the editing team made sure that the action was as tight the fourth time as it was the first time the story was told. And because of this, the movie kept the audience engaged. They had become the jury, listening to Walden's case, and Serling's character was the prosecutor examining the witnesses.
As an added bonus, the main characters were also portrayed well by the main stars. Denzel Washington was fine as usual as the hero. Meg Ryan managed to shed more of her cute image and showed the different sides of Walden, as described by the witnesses. Lesser characters were also adequately believable.
However, Courage Under Fire was not without its flaws. The movie tried to tackle many issues at once, resulting in some sub-plots (mentioned above) being under-developed, or resolved too easily. An example would be Serling's character. His role in the movie was at times overshadowed by Walden's, even though he should be the person at the centre of our focus. The movie ended too conveniently when the investigation ended. When all is said and done, Courage Under Fire is still worth the $7, it kept the audience engaged for most of the film, questioning the fate of Walden. It also flowed easily, with no major plot hiccups. On the scale of army drama, it is not A Few Good Men of 1996. But it certainly packed more drama than the recently shown A Time To Kill.
Recommended.
Reviewed on 10 November 1996 - by Viboon.
----------------------------------- PS. This is my maiden review. Please forward all your comments to viboon@pacific.net.sg. Thank you for reading.
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