Under Heavy Fire

Sidney Furie has taken something of the low road since those promising early films in the seventies, including another Vietnam movie, "The Boys in Company C." "Going Back," or "Under Heavy Fire," the new video title is not in the class of that earlier effort, but I give Furie credit for trying to make a statement about this increasingly forgotten war which left so many scars on us as individuals and a society. Neither the budget nor some of the actors are up to the task of presenting the kind of film Furie wanted to make here, and the overall compromises to the B movie market ultimately sink the director's finer aspirations. Still, credit must be given for the attempt. Especially in a time when the far right is offering revisionist fantasies like "We Were Soldiers" in an attempt to convince a new generation that this ugly, horrible war was somehow noble. Perhaps some of those who pick up this video expecting a gung ho war movie will be persuaded by its tone to see that this was not a victory to be celebrated, but a hard lesson in the limits of our power. This is a lesson our current president sorely needs to learn.