The film has minimal plot as it simply follows a Platoon of soldiers fighting their way through the jungle, alternatively engaging or avoiding the enemy. Yet despite the lack of dramatics (apart from being shot at, of course.....) and story of any great significance, it is entirely engaging and retains the viewer's interest to be finish. As a non-combatant, I am not in a position to say how realistic it might be as compared to actual conflict but it certainly seems to mirror what trekking through the jungle while carrying wounded colleagues and being shot at is like.
The film was shot in Cambodia and gives fascinating glimpses of tribes people living in the country at the time. The endless thick jungle is breathtaking and sadly shows what a mess the government there has make of its natural resources (Cambodia is now one of the most deforested countries in the world due to relentless logging and has little dense jungle remaining). The film is of course set during the French Indochine conflict of the '50s, but could just as readily be viewed as an event occurring in the later Vietnam War of the 60s and 70s - and as such, will be greatly appreciated by fans of Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Apocalypse Now etc.
One word of warning - the end of the film is abrupt. It ends 'just like that' and is over, but this fits in with the pseudo-realistic feel of what has gone beforehand.
The film was shot in Cambodia and gives fascinating glimpses of tribes people living in the country at the time. The endless thick jungle is breathtaking and sadly shows what a mess the government there has make of its natural resources (Cambodia is now one of the most deforested countries in the world due to relentless logging and has little dense jungle remaining). The film is of course set during the French Indochine conflict of the '50s, but could just as readily be viewed as an event occurring in the later Vietnam War of the 60s and 70s - and as such, will be greatly appreciated by fans of Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Apocalypse Now etc.
One word of warning - the end of the film is abrupt. It ends 'just like that' and is over, but this fits in with the pseudo-realistic feel of what has gone beforehand.