Courage Under Fire
Directed by Edward Zwick
With Denzil Washington, Meg Ryan and Lou Diamond Phillips
Reviewed by Norm Dixon
The build-up to the release of Courage Under Fire made much of the US military's refusal to cooperate with its production. The film failed to meet the Orwellian provision's of US Army Regulation 360-5 which demands stories be "plausible and realistic, have the potential to educate the public and are consistent with the regulations and practices of the Army or the US government". Why? Because the film suggests that the US military brass covered up events that showed the Gulf War was a little more than a computer game televised on CNN and that the Pentagon and White House routinely manipulate the tragedies of war for their own political advantage. Highly implausible, eh?
That the first significant celluloid re-creation of the Gulf War was critical, albeit very mildly, of the military sheds a little light on Hollywood's reading of the state of "Vietnam Syndrome" in the US. Short, sharp air assaults or remote control "smart" weapons are okay, but operations that threaten the lives of US troops are not popular at all.
The film focuses on the deaths of a few US troops in "friendly fire" incidents. Denzil Washington plays Lt Col Nat Serling, a guilt-racked officer responsible for the deaths of a US tank crew. The Pentagon is attempting to cover-up the deaths and assumes that, in return, Serling will roll over when he is called upon to conduct a quick runner-stamp investigation so that the Medal of Honour for bravery can be awarded posthumously to helicopter pilot Karen Walden, played by Meg Ryan.
An election is near and the White House spin-doctors want the president to bathe in the glory of "the first woman in history to be awarded the Medal of Honour" (actually, the first woman won it more than 120 years ago during the Civil War). But they haven't counted our Denzil's commitment to truth and honour. He smells a rat and, by golly, he'll find it. What he uncovers are conflicting tales of gallantry and cowardice and in the process discovers the "true meaning of heroism".
Given that the Pentagon forced Courage Under Fire's makers to pay for the tanks, helicopters and those Stormin'-Norman-Jeep-things out of their own pockets, why not tell a few hard hitting truths about the Gulf War? This film wimps right out.
This film does not ask why US troops were half way around the world in Iraq in the first place. The word "oil" isn't mentioned. Maybe it could be asked how and why over 150,000 Iraqi soldiers and 200,000 civilians were slaughtered and why this simple but appalling fact has hardly been mentioned in the US media. Early in the film it is established that war against those Iraqi "fuckers" is not open for debate. Iraqis are portrayed as silly fanatics who run headlong into US fire and drop like flies.
What about the "Gulf War Syndrome" that is afflicting tens of thousands of ground troops who served in the Gulf? There is a 30-second scene where a doctor recounts some the symptoms veterans are suffering, but unless you're in the know it would pass you by. GWS is believed to be caused by a range of factors: the chemical cocktail of vaccines and antidotes pumped into soldiers to counter possible biological and chemical weapon attacks; exposure to radio-active depleted uranium shells and bullets; and the fall-out from bombed chemical weapons depots. The Pentagon refuses to recognise the condition or pay compensation.
In this film, "cowards" turn out to be ordinary soldiers who question orders, or who try to survive instead of killing the "enemy". "Heroes" are officers who issue orders that amount to suicide or who can put the guilt of the consequences of war behind them. The military brass and politicians are cowards when they don't back the "heroes".