Excellent French war film shot like a newsreel done with matter of fact-ness telling the story of a patrol in an outpost around the time of Dien Bien Phu. They run into Viet Minh, clash, clash again, come across a village, fight again. There's three main characters - the second lieutenant, warrant officer and sergeant. Not all of them survive - neither do the Laotian troops they command.
Surely an influence of Saving Private Ryan. The one member of the cast I recognised was the steely eyed Bruno Cremer who was in Sorcerer.
It doesn't judge the characters. There is matter of fact swearing, referring to locals as "gooks" and assuming the village girl gives good head. It doesn't have a typical dramatic build and none of the non white characters get that much of a look in. But a striking movie, well worth seeing.
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