Review of Courage Under Fire (1996) by Timothy M — 11 Nov 2010

The study of a soldiers' experience in war has always fascinated movie audiences. Some of these films are jingoistic and some are realistic. Some, like Courage Under Fire are a hybrid of battlefield drama and investigative drama, almost a whodunit, and it does a good job straddling those genres. It was unique in a numbers of ways: It dealt with a contemporary conflict, a female soldier was the focus of the story, and it told the story from multiple character perspectives to arrive at the true scenario. Like any detective solving a crime, you have to interview witnesses, and each is a human with a different perspective. Well written and intelligently directed Edward Zwick, Courage Under Fire is a Denzel Washington vehicle, (collaboration that went back to Zwick's Glory film in '89) but has some great supporting cast members like Matt Damon (a fascinating character); Lou Diamond Phillips and of course Meg Ryan as the deceased Medal of Honor winner whose courage is called into question.

The movie also touches on the often-asked: 'What really happened out there?' theme, which we've seen in the recent Iraq conflict many times. Thought the press involvement in Courage Under Fire is strictly secondary to the military investigation by Denzel's character, you can't help but think that this film resonates well today. It's also interesting to see how the attitude has changed since 1996. In the film, clearly the military is doing its best to understand what happened 'out there' because it assigns someone of high integrity like Denzel Washington's character.

Today, with all the Tillman-type stories that have circulated, the attitude is clearly that we can't believe these military investigations alone, we still have to question authority. Washington introduces the concept of that as an insider, and does a good job of that, risking his own career.

Although the action sequence makes up a small part of the film, it's chillingly similar to things we've seen in Hurt Locker, Valley of Elah, and other films. There are some inaccuracies in terms of weapons allowed on that type of chopper used, and there was little support from the Department of Defense on the film, so that hurts the overall technical aspects. However, if Courage Under Fire has non-technical faults, it's because it's a little over-the-top in terms of the emotions, but other than that the court sequences are tightly handled, and the resolution is quite a bit different from what you might expect. A good film, and deserving of another look if you missed it the first time around.