Green Berets
Heading into a movie all about the Vietnam war, I felt quite intimidated being so unknowledgeable. I tried to think of what I did know about the war, and I’ll be embarrassingly honest, the only thing I could recall was that I think it was the one where many Americans thought we should not have been involved in. I was right, but unfortunately that is all I knew. Little did I know, I would be finishing the movie in tears.
In Green Berets, a group of U.S. Special Forces troops called the Green Berets travel to Vietnam during the Vietnam war to defend a camp. The camp suffers from attack from the Viet Cong and eventually the camp gets overthrown. Their second mission becomes capturing a high-level Viet Cong officer. The film intrigued me more than I was expecting and I really enjoyed the different perspectives presented in the film. I thought the inclusion of a journalist made a difference. He represented the voice of many Americans in the movie, as well as my own. Americans did not know why we needed to be involved in Vietnam, and for all I knew, I saw no purpose either. Colonel Kirby pointed out to the journalist that you cannot truly understand why unless you are actually in the situation. I thought he pointed out a great point not only for war situations but in life as well. Just like the phrase, “put yourself in their shoes” is a very important action in understanding situations.
Though wars can come off emotional, I think the movie did a good job on showing the different shoes of people involved in the war. My favorite perspective was Ham Chuck, a little native Vietnam boy. My favorite scene of the entire movie was after Ham Chuck’s last closest friend died, ask...
