Thirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr. (“Pits”) is awarded the nation’s highest military honor, for his actions on the battlefield.
Scott Huffman, (Sebastian Stan), a DC Lawyer for the Department of Defense, is approached in his office by war veteran Tulley (William Hurt). Tulley is on a 30-year campaign to get Airman William Pitsenbarger (Jeremy Irvine) posthumously awarded the medal of Honor stating, “justice delayed is justice denied.” Huffman is tasked by his no-nonsense boss Whit Peters (Linus Roache) to dig deeper into the disastrous Battle of Xa Cam May, otherwise known as Operation Abilene.
Due to the Americans’ poor planning, Operation Abilene found their squad pinned down by Viet Cong troops, resulting in a lot of casualties. During the skirmish, a helicopter filled with medics were attempting to extract wounded soldiers. Pitsenbarger was aboard the chopper and selflessly rappelled down to the bloody mayhem, saving dozens in the process. I’m pleased to say the action is directed clearly and avoids the typical shaky-camera movement normally used in war films. Tragically, Pitsenbarger is killed by friendly fire during the chaotic shooting and the powers that be do not admit what happened. The war in Vietnam was going so poorly that the US government was more than willing to lie about his death.
The cast is full of heavyweights like Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Christopher Plummer and many others. Disappointingly, the story and dialogue don’t match up with the ensemble’s talents. Bradley Whitford pops in randomly to provide heavy exposition and some appropriate levity. Although my favorite character was Ray Mott (Ed Harris), who’s introduced having a blast at his local gun range with watermelons and junked cars as his targets. He recounts the corruption and lies fed to both the American troops and the people by the likes of General Westmoreland and President Johnson. In particular, lies like falsified casualty numbers to make the US look like they were winning.
During the film, I kept reflecting on the far superior procedural “In the Valley of Elah.” In that film, Tommy Lee Jones is a retired military investigator who questions his son’s mysterious death upon returning from Iraq. That story brilliantly captures the fog of a traumatic war and doesn’t portray Americans as underdogs. I think it’s important to honor the dead by telling the truth and stopping unnecessary wars and interventions. It’s encouraging to see this film exploring accountability but I wish the filmmakers did more to vilify the entire war. It would’ve been a far different film had “The Last Full Measure” went all in, not only halfway.
In Theaters Friday, January 24th
