This is an extremely political film, suggesting that it is good to do what power considers to be your "duty", regardless of what that "duty" is. You could have made the same film in Nazi-Germany with old people from then giving "courage" to their soldiers. Just think what would have been if all these soldiers back then had just refused to go into war and not done their "duty" for "their" country, because they had realized that it was not "their" country and instead the country of the rich and powerful Nazis. The film is considered "apolitical" by reviewers, because it does not touch upon the subject of why these people go to war, except at the very end and then, of course, we are served the official bull that we can hear from the Bushes. Until the very end of the film, I did not know for sure, however, where it was going. I could not say for sure if it was a leftist film or a film by the scoundrels. Only in the end I understood that it was the latter. A powerful piece of propaganda - that's why I give it two stars for craftsmanship in spite that it is for an evil purpose. Until the very end I thought that they would reveal that all the young people, like the female helicopter-pilot especially, would turn up dead and that all the flag-waving would come to an uneasy and abrupt stop. I thought the makers of this film had followed many more families and picked out those that had to face a bad end in order to get the above expected effect. That's the kind of movie I would have done on this topic.
Of course, this was not done. Involuntary though, you do get an insight in American life and the fantastic stupidity that seems to reign there amongst some of their citizens at least (and all those that give this films high ratings). Over half the population in the USA are rumored to think that the 9/11 disaster was an inside job. Well, this film is about the rest that seem to believe anything you tell them, provided you are powerful enough.
Of course, this was not done. Involuntary though, you do get an insight in American life and the fantastic stupidity that seems to reign there amongst some of their citizens at least (and all those that give this films high ratings). Over half the population in the USA are rumored to think that the 9/11 disaster was an inside job. Well, this film is about the rest that seem to believe anything you tell them, provided you are powerful enough.