COURAGE UNDER FIRE

Sadly this is the sort of film that is no longer made - a somewhat earnest and not obviously  exciting story, with two star actors at the top of the billing, but little in the way of marketing gimmicks to draw an audience.

Gosh, I'm making it sound quite dull, which is far from the case.

For a start, the setup is an intriguing one.

Colonel Nat Serling (Denzil Washington) is given the job of assessing whether Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan, of all people) deserves a posthumous Medal of Honour, she having died whilst her helicopter crew was rescuing the crew of another helicopter, shot down during the Persian Gulf War. 

Serling himself is struggling with a huge burden of grief and guilt.  In an excellent opening sequence we see a tank battle in which Serling gives the order to fire upon what turns out to be a US tank commanded by (wouldn't you know) a close friend of Serling's, Boylar.  

The military are not keen to own up to this 'friendly fire' incident, and so Serling has been obliged to lie to Boylar's parents as to how their son died.  

Towards the end of the film Serling tells his commander that not to tell the truth about what happened would dishonour Boylar's military service, and this theme, the importance of the truth, is very much at the heart of the film.

Most of the running time is taken up with Serling interrogating various members of Walden's crew (including a disturbingly emaciated Matt Damon).  Their accounts don't tally.  That these are shown in flashback is somewhat reminiscent of the classic Japanese film, 'Rashomon'.

Eventually Serling gets to the truth, and the resolution is not as dramatically powerful as it might have been.  It's a bit muddled, not helped by the rather unnecessary presence of a reporter who has been trying to get to the truth of how Boylar died. 

And I could certainly have done without the closing moments, which show us, implausibly, that Walden was present at the 'friendly fire' incident.  

There's nothing wrong with Meg Ryan's performance but I couldn't really buy her in a military role. 

Notwithstanding these minor quibbles I found it overall a satisfying film.   Much of this is down to Denzil who is more than capable of holding it all together.  In particular, the scene when he finally tells Boylar's parents the truth is very moving. 

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do