‘Leave this round in the chamber, sir…’
Akira Kurosawa’s cinematic masterpiece Rashomon is such an incredible concept that it has been repeated everywhere from The X-Files to How I Met Your Mother to Gone Girl. For the uninitiated, Rashomon is a film in which we hear about the murder of a samurai from several different sources, with each source remembering the event differently. Courage Under Fire takes the Rashomon effect, and applies it to American soldiers in the Persian Gulf War…
Courage Under Fire presents us with two narratives. Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) struggles to reckon with a terrible mistake and Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling investigates the death of Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) in an attempt to determine whether she deserves to become the first woman to receive the prestigious Medal of Honour. Either of these narratives would have been fine, by squishing them together (along with a subplot about Serling’s drinking problem which goes nowhere), director Edward Zwick ends up with two halves of a great film instead of one satisfying whole.
It’s a weird one this as all the elements for something special are in place. Great cast (Matt Damon, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bronson Pinchot etc). One the of most celebrated cinematographers ever in Roger Deakins. A sweeping score from legendary Aliens composer James Horner. And yet… it left me cold. I enjoyed the spectacle, but I failed to locate much humanity underneath it all. Even Washington’s final speech, the big emotional pay off, did little for me. We simply don’t get to know these characters enough to make a proper connection to them.
Courage Under Fire is a solid enough war film that will please fans of the genre and devotees of Denzel Washington. I enjoyed it too. But my final summation must be that this is a good film rather than a great one – a missed opportunity.
