Courage Under Fire (1996)

best movie i've ever seen.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Pretty great movie with an enthralling storyline which is made even more interesting because each member of "the crew" has a different version of what actually happened. Excellent performances here from Lou Diamond Phillips and a painfully (painfully) emaciated Matt Damon.Denzel Washington plays a Lt Colonel reviewing a female soldiers (Meg Ryan) candidacy for the medal of honor. Ultimately his quest reveals conflicting versions of the story from her crew.I have to say Meg Ryan was terrible in this, just painful to watch as Capt. Walden. The battle scenes also felt kinda cheesy (special effects wise) but this was still a great film, despite its flaws. 05.13

There is a strong Story here as an investigation ensues about a potential Medal of Honor recipient and the mysterious conflict of testimonies. It is given a twist with a shot of estrogen as the Soldier involved is the first Female to possibly (Posthumously) be awarded the Nation's Highest Military Honor.That should be enough to make this a riveting Mystery and through flashbacks we are shown some striking battle Scenes. So why add the conflict and strife to the investigating Officer. It is completely unnecessary and is the weakest part of the Film and almost drags it down with unconvincing situations of Combat guilt and Family Dysfunction. That could be a whole other Movie. But with that bloating aside there are some strong Performances by the young Cast (actually outshining Denzel) in supporting Roles as the Combat Unit in question. There is a back Story to everyone and it holds up quite well with the central Theme. It must be mentioned here that although, Meg Ryan is miscast as the Captain, she tries her best but cannot outgrow her limitations and convince as a tough Girl in a hopeless, self sacrificing situation.Overall, not a bad Movie and is worth a watch for the strong parts, but there is much too much padding here, plus the heavy dose of sentimentality finally drags this down from Great Movie to just above Average.

Yes, I know it's trying to be inspiring and heroic and poignant, but COURAGE UNDER FIRE is one of the most blatantly gutless movies ever made. About a soldier investigating whether a downed female United States helicopter pilot in Desert Storm deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor. So I ask you: in which universe will America ever make a movie where a Medal of Honor is investigated and NOT awarded? So it's a foregone conclusion--all the mystery and mayhem and maybes are simply wasting our time more than the actual war this story was set in--as it leads inexorably to the melodramatic military funeral, the flags, saluting, tears of the family, proud shiny buttons and white gloves, the flyover with one plane breaking formation, and that bilious, bleating orchestra swell. And the Medal. The End. Cry me a river; cry me a patently meaningless award, military swine.Then the coda: the investigating soldier visits pilot's grave, salutes grave, tiny flag, voice-over of dead pilot to American Pie Mom and Dad, talking of the Big Push and hero hero hero hero hero hero another blithering orchestra swell I'm going to vomit... Denzel Washington is the investigating soldier, with demons of his own. (Well, they're not really demons; they're roiling stabs of conscience he feels for stupidly shooting one of his own tanks during a skirmish, killing his own men in the hilariously black euphemism "friendly fire," and then having the military cover-up his blunder.) And whenever he has visions of that po' boy he fricasseed in that tank (Mmm! Soldierboy, the other white meat!), he heads straight for the alcohol... uh, cos he's a hero, see.When he's asked to investigate whether Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) is worthy of receiving the Medal of Honor for "courage under fire," the story ends right there. Of course she's deserving of it. She's the first female officer recommended, she's regarded as a hero for sacrificing her life for her men--and she's Meg Ryan. As if the movie would go to all the trouble setting up her heroism and feminism and Ryanism and NOT award her the medal.And every cliché in the military lexicon is thrown at us like grenades lobbed into foxholes: the tragic family; damaged goods investigating damaged goods; the novice (Matt Damon), the toughguy (Lou Diamond Phillips), the hero-worshipper (Tim Guinee) and all the other bumboys like the Benetton passengers of SPEED; the hospitalized guy (Seth Gilliam) whose seen one battle too many; the military cover-up. And everyone's got Movie PTSD.Denzel wants to find out "what really happened," so COURAGE is constructed like a RASHOMON for rednecks, as we see all the alternate flashbacks with a coy Walden, an indecisive Walden and a butch Walden barking orders and trying not to look like a sex object. Not one of the scenarios is ambiguous about her Hero status--no matter if she threw Iraqi babies at walls or defunded the G.I. Bill. If we can call football players heroes, and people who jumped from the Twin Towers heroes, then this chopper pilot must be a shoo-in, so I ask again: what compels viewers to spend 120 minutes *pretending* there's any doubt?Denzel visits Walden's helicopter bumboys, who all give differing accounts of My Night In The Desert With Captain Walden. Diamond Phillips claims he was the toughguy, as he lies and plies himself with alcohol and commits suicide (cos he's a hero!); Damon claims Walden was a strategic hardnose, as he admits to being a junkie and afraid to go flying again (cos he's a hero!); Guinee relates how Walden sacrificed herself for them, even as he reveals how she got them shot down by taking another pass at an Iraqi tank when she could have flown away--cognitive dissonance rules!--while constantly telling his wife to shutup for calling Walden butch (cos he's a hero!); while Seth Gilliam pounds his medication to numb himself out of the running as a reputable eyewitness (cos he's a hero, see!).What's in it for her bumboys to report that she was a coward? Nothing. But saying she was a HERO makes them vicarious heroes alongside her. Ooo-rah! And here's a note to all you military wardogs whose first reaction is to Spock-chop me for "disrespecting" you (such heroes, fighting for peace!): When are you going to realize your own government, who pays you hypocritical lip service, regards you with even less respect than I do? I just consider you deluded and egotistical and sometimes uneducated, while they consider you cannon fodder! It's the United States government that fools you into getting your asses shot off for them in the first place; it's the United States government that refuses you and your family financial benefits when you return from war; it's the United States government that stop-losses you, reneging on your stipulated leave time, over and over and over again; it's the United States government that cuts your medical funding; it's the United States government that evicts your family, that lies about friendly fire, that doesn't provide armor for you or your vehicles; it's the United States government that kicks you out for being gay after you've dedicated your life to them; it's the United States government that supposedly trains you for PTSD and then all of you return from war with PTSD (Who are the a-holes? You, who are either failing your training, or the government who are failing to train you properly?).Is that what you bitches call "respect"? Under fire from your own government, it's about time you showed some real Courage Under Fire and tell them where to shove it next time they want to exploit you for political gain. That is, unless you really are as dumb as they consider you to be.Ooo-rah! --Poffy The Cucumber

I don't care about the petty "goofs" or parts of the story that other people point out- this movie means a lot to me as a disabled veteran with PTSD. This movie is about many things, but to me, the story is about how Col Sterling is trying to manage his survivor guilt and PTSD from his incident on one hand, and deal with his task to validate the medal for his General, his wife, his kids, etc. on the other. He resorts to booze (like we all do) to try to cope. That's what this movie is really about: how one guy is trying to come to grips with PTSD, which I can tell you first-hand is a challenge that I face every minute of everyday. And seeing this movie helps heal me. It reminds me that I too lost a promising career in the Navy, lost my marriage, lost my kids, and lost myself in the abyss of PTSD and alcoholism before I got help. That's the only negative I have on this movie- we don't see if Col Sterling got help. Otherwise, this movie has helped heal me in ways that no other movie I've ever seen has.