No war has been as influential in America’s mass cultural arena and yet depicted in the most adverse light as the Vietnam conflict. The war led to the birth of anthems of fight, broadened the limits for TV show quality, and above all, gave us a slew of movies that changed our very perceptions of war, suffering, and the paradox of the return. The safest way to get a full grasp of the madness of the times is to watch the movies made at that time – the fear, the fury, the aftershocks. Here is a list of 10 Vietnam War films that weren’t just the war narrated—they changed our remembrance of it.
10. Casualties of War (1989)
Brian De Palma’s intense drama almost solely dwells on the confusion of the moral aspects that soldiers in Vietnam had to face. The part played by Michael J. Fox is that of a young, untrained soldier who is torn between obeying his conscience and going along with his mates. In contrast, Sean Penn symbolizes the evil within that comes out during fights. The film, along with other dreadful deeds, portrays almost in a way that one can hardly endure how the deepest of scars are not necessarily those on the body – scarring emotionally can be the worst of all.
9. Rescue Dawn (2006)
Werner Herzog tells the true story of Dieter Dengler, a Navy pilot who was shot down and held captive in the jungle. Christian Bale is the one who had to take the difficult path of becoming Dengler during this prolonged and tragic event, where the character is going to be a victim of torture, starvation, and an agonizing flight. The story, however, at the very last point, is not about survival – it is rather a drawing of endurance against grief.
8. We Were Soldiers (2002)
Mostly it’s about the very first and most costly war between American and North Vietnamese troops that the film is telling. Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore is the one who informs you about the horror of the Ia Drang Valley. Although the film concentrates on the two aspects that are the action and the loss, it still manages to show the impossible tension between soldiers and their families back then. The movie is about bravery, and at the same time, it is about the pain of being at the front lines of a war that is different in nature.
7. Hamburger Hill (1987)
No films, in my opinion, depict the waste of the Vietnam War as effectively as this one does. The insane battle for Hill 937 is scrawled on the movie as a grotesque, painstaking process. Meanwhile, the soldiers are shown killing and sacrificing for a piece of earth, which they will very soon leave far behind. It is a heartbreaking way to picture the war – a waste of life and materials – that was both the source of many deaths and the main cause of soldiers’ disillusionment.
6. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Unlike his standard action-hero roles, Tom Cruise is brilliant, absolutely beautiful, and lingers in audiences’ minds as Ron Kovic in a very poignant, only-one-Tom-Cruise way. Kovic, a U.S. Marine wounded during the Vietnam War, undergoes a transformation from an enthusiastic patriot to a shouting, anti-war protester, and hence the film shows the price of war in a devastating way. It doesn’t present the veteran’s suffering physically and emotionally as an exaggeration of the story.
5. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Robin Williams was at his very best when he was allowed to be just himself and to do his most notable piece with much humor and warmth, which was the story of Adrian Cronauer, a military radio DJ who used satire as a mode of protest against the imposed silence. However, the laughing always has a sting, a satirical take on power, censorship, and the whole illogic of warfare. It is an act of proof that in some cases, a joke can be even deadlier than a bullet.
4. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Stanley Kubrick’s representation of Vietnam is basically just two unforgettable scenes: the harsh treatment in the Marine boot camp and the absurd terror of fighting in Hue. R. Lee Ermey’s drill sergeant quickly grew to be one of the most famous roles in cinema, and the film’s uncompromising portrayal of mental breakdown is very powerful. Numerous ex-Marines argue that the part of the movie where the training is depicted is the most authentic they have ever seen on screen.
3. The Deer Hunter (1978)
The film not just covers the conflict itself but also shows the long-term effects it has on the characters’ lives. The story is about a circle of friends who were forever changed after being in the middle of the conflict in Vietnam, and the incredible performances are by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep. The extremely violent Russian roulette scenes that the film is famous for became widely well-known; however, the real impact of the film is still in its empathy and honesty in dealing with trauma and disillusionment.
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Francis Ford Coppola’s experimental magnum opus literally went wild, adapting Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness idea to the Vietnam War. What Brando, Sheen, and Duvall did with their acting skills was nothing short of three of the most talked-about and praised performances ever, is beyond a good war picture, and the descent into madness of the human psyche is what you get. Anyway, the whole thing was a cinematic nightmare experience due to the surreal imagery and the ever-present theme of decay.
1. Platoon (1986)
At the top of this list stands Oliver Stone’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece, with the first and strongest reason being the very method of creation. Having been in the army as an infantryman himself, Stone was able to draw on the experience of Platoon as the opposite of the myths; suddenly, Vietnam is depicted as it really was: filthy, scary, morally ambiguous, and deeply human. It thus, firstly, gave veterans a film made for them, and secondly, audiences, a raw and honest face of war. Won 4 Oscars right, including Best Picture; however, it remains the paramount film about the Vietnam War to this day.
These 10 movies were not a mere depiction of Vietnam, but they were a different angle of the conversation about the war. Needless to say, these pictures were a platform for veterans to talk, a foil against the myths that were widely accepted, and an invitation for viewers to explore the dark and complicated territories of war. Until now, their traces are still there, constantly reminding us that not only was the Vietnam War, but it was also the time when America changed its opinion about itself.