Retro Film Review: A Bright Shining Lie (1998)

Thanks to Hollywood films, global perception about Vietnam War is American perception. Judging by the way Hollywood handled that conflict, perception is even narrower. Almost all films dealing with the subject tend to be from the perspective of common soldiers. There is very little audience can learn about strategies, political issues or reasons that led to the greatest American defeat of 20th Century. One of the rare films that seriously tried to deal with those issues is A Bright Shining Lie, 1998 biopic directed by Terry George for HBO.

The plot of the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Neil Sheehan and deals with life and times of John Paul Vann (played by Bill Paxton), American military officer who took part in Vietnam War almost from the very beginning. The story starts in 1962 when Colonel Vann realises that his humble origins and dark secrets from the past stand in the way of the promotion. The only way to advance his military career seems to be "exotic little war" that is being fought in South Vietnam. Vann goes there as part of military assistance program for South Vietnamese government. Vann is full of enthusiasm and idealistic zeal, but he quickly realises that the program is nothing but farce - government's forces can't properly use American aid because of corrupt and incompetent officers and most of US-supplied arms and equipment end in the hands of Communist guerrillas. Disappointed and angered, Vann tells all about it to journalist Steven Burnett (played by Donal Logue). Military brass reacts by recalling him back to desk duties back in USA. Vann resigns military commission only to get another chance after President Johnson's escalation of war in 1964. Vann returns to Vietnam, this time as civilian advisor, and tries to apply strategy based on winning hearts and minds of Vietnamese peasants instead of brute military force.

Whether American involvement in Vietnam was good idea or whether US forces could have won that conflict is the subject of endless discussion in last three decades. Terry George in this film doesn't want to engage into those debates, but A Bright Shining Lie clearly shows that serious mistakes were made by American military and political leadership. Most of the turning points of the war are covered in this film with the good of documentary footage that puts incidents of Vann's biography into the broader context. The most interesting thing about A Bright Shining Lie is in the complex nature of the protagonist. Vann is presented as someone audience should root for - dedicated professional soldier who, both as naive idealist at the beginning and embittered veteran at the end, ultimately believes in his mission. At the same time, Vann is portrayed as deeply flawed human being and this is the film's weakness. Too much time is spent on Vann's family problems and private life. Bill Paxton plays this role very confidently and he is helped with the group of very good and dependable character actors. Although a mini-series is definitely more suitable format for this kind of story and although A Bright Shining Lie could have painted even more comprehensive picture of Vietnam War, viewer can a learn a lot from it. Because of current events that made those lessons even more relevant now than six years ago, A Bright Shining Lie should be watched.
RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on May 11th 2004)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7