The films about Vietnam that most Americans remember are positively soaked in physical and emotional torment – from " Platoon , " with its grunt 's - eye view of combat , to " Apocalypse Now , " with its exploration of war 's dehumanizing insanity . Today , the pendulum has swung back again . If filmmakers with politically twisted knives once sliced away guts-and-glory clichés , their current equivalents hack away all meaningful concern with moral and political questions . " We Were Soldiers " is shameless in this regard , filling the screen with square-jawed officers who weep at carnage and fresh-faced GIs who use their last breaths to intone things like , " I 'm glad I died for my country . " Todd McCarthy , from '' Variety '' , wrote the film " presents the fighting realistically , violently and relatively coherently given the chaotic circumstances ... " McCarthy further wrote , " Mel Gibson has the closest thing to a John Wayne part that anyone 's played since the Duke himself rode into the sunset , and he plays it damn well . " He summarized with , " Gibson 's performance anchors the film with commanding star power to burn . This officer truly loves his men , and the credibility with which the actor is able to express Moore 's leadership qualities as well as his sensitive side is genuinely impressive . " Hal Moore , who had long been critical of many Vietnam War films for their negative portrayals of American servicemen , publicly expressed approval of the film and is featured in segments of the DVD . Some soldiers were less pleased : Retired Col Rick Rescorla , who played an important role in the book and was pictured on the cover ( and later died in the September 11 attacks ) , was disappointed , after reading the script , to learn that he and his unit had been written out of the film . In one key incident , the finding of a vintage French bugle on a dying Vietnamese soldier , the English-born Rescorla is replaced by a nameless '' Welsh '' platoon leader
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
We Were Soldiers