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 ctors
are often measured by their range, and range is not in short supply when
it comes to Mel Gibson. On the one
hand, he played lunatic detective Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon
series, a character that was a cross between Groucho Marx and Rambo. On
the other, he has tackled subtle dramatic roles in such films as The
Man Without a Face and Hamlet. We start to run out of hands
when we consider his personification of quiet rage in the dark action
thriller Payback and in the Mad
Max series. About the only thing consistent in his acting has been the
mischievous twinkle in his eyes with which he shamelessly charms movie
audiences everywhere.What has probably garnered him the most attention and prestige, however, is his depiction of heroism and courage in the historical epic Braveheart, the portrayal of Scottish hero William Wallace for which he was awarded Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. Bravery in difficult times was also the theme of The Patriot, in which Gibson played Colonel Benjamin Martin who is dragged into the American revolutionary war against his will. He turns once again to history for his inspiration in We Were |
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Soldiers,
a recounting of one of the bloodiest chapters of the Vietnam War. Randall
Wallace, who wrote the screenplay for Braveheart, also returns,
this time taking the director's chair. The film is based on the book We
Were Soldiers Once… and Young written by journalist and military
historian Joe Galloway and Lieutenant General Hal Moore of the U.S. Army,
whose younger self is played by Gibson. In November of 1965, 450 combat troops were dropped in a small clearing referred to as Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands in South Vietnam. The valley is now remembered as the Valley of Death, as the Americans were soon surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, and what ensued is now widely regarded as one of the bloodiest battles in American history. Three days later, in another landing zone known as Albany, a sister battalion was caught in a savage firefight. During four days of fighting in Landing Zones X-Ray and Albany, 234 U.S. soldiers died in battle. According to Moore and Galloway, this is more Americans than were killed in any regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg and far more than were killed during the entire Persian Gulf War. Both men took part in the Ia Drang Campaign - Moore as battalion commander and Galloway as a UPI correspondent. Galloway in the movie will be played by Barry Pepper of The Green Mile and Saving Private Ryan. Gibson and Pepper are joined by an exceptionally strong cast, including Madeleine Stowe (who plays Moore's wife), Sam Elliot, Greg Kinnear, Chris Klein  and
Keri Russell.It is Gibson, however, who will be called upon to convey emotions ranging from despair through anger to courage with the kind of tenderness needed to make Moore's character human and his heroism believable. Fortunately, Gibson's track record shows he is more than capable. - Rui Umezawa |