'We Were Soldiers' is a film that attempts to portray both sides of the conflict in Indo-China that became known in the West as the 'Vietnam War'.

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We were soldiers essay

‘We Were Soldiers’ is a film that attempts to portray both sides of the conflict in Indo-China that became known in the West as the ‘Vietnam War’.

After carefully analysing the film, it becomes apparent that this statement is essentially untrue. The film opens with a disembodied narrative from the voice of Joe Galloway, an American news reporter, sent over in the midst of the conflict to show the American people how men fought and died for their country. We hear him dedicate the story to all men who fought in the Vietnam War, from both sides.

Implicitly, however the story is dedicated to the American men and the way in which the film is directed plays a part in conveying the Americans as righteous and patriotic and the Vietnamese as Ruthless and barbaric.

Firstly, the way in which the camera shots are taken during American deaths compared to the way in which the Vietnamese deaths are shown makes us, as an audience feel compassionate towards the Americans. For example, when Vietnamese deaths occur, the camera will almost instantly go to another shot, in contrast, when an American death occurs the camera is slowed down and we hear melancholic music played in the background. The focus is on the death and our attention is bought to the ‘patriotic’ American. This creates the impression that an American loss is more important than a Vietnamese one.

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Early on in the film, we see the main characters humanized by humour and family and domestic scenes. This happens mainly for the American soldiers. Conversely, we only see one Vietnamese soldier humanized when he is writing a diary entry and we are shown a close up of his girlfriend. This soldier is later killed and the girlfriend is notified. Despite the inclusion of this, the number of times this happens with the American soldiers is incomparable

Throughout the film, we see domestic scenes of the American soldiers wives and children. We also see the women receiving telegrams ...

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