Southern Comfort
When on weekend manoeuvres in Louisiana’s Bayous a group of National Guardsmen get lost. They come across and “borrow” some local’s boats, then to compound matters further they fire upon the boats owners with blank rounds. Initially scared away the local Cajuns disappear in the woods, but reappear shortly afterwards to deal there own form of justice on the mainly unprepared weekend....
Movie
When on weekend manoeuvres in Louisiana’s Bayous a group of National Guardsmen get lost. They come across and “borrow” some local’s boats, then to compound matters further they fire upon the boats owners with blank rounds. Initially scared away the local Cajuns disappear in the woods, but reappear shortly afterwards to deal there own form of justice on the mainly unprepared weekend soldiers. Soon the Guardsmen are fighting for their lives.
Review
It had been many years since I watched this movie when I was a mere boy back in the mid 80's, I saw the film advertised a while back and upon remembering it fondly I made the purchase, wondering if the film has stood up to the desk of time, after all as I write this, the film is 25 years old.
The film is basically a metaphor for the American involvement in Vietnam; The Guardsmen indicating the American forces in Vietnam, lost in an environment that is foreign to them and to which they do not belong, The Cajuns taking the role as the Vietcong in this allegory are completely at home in this wilderness and pick off the fumbling troops and almost every turn, this soon leads to panic amongst the guardsmen.
I think that this was quite a brave film to make at the time. Although set in 1973, the film was made in 1981 and although American attitudes were changing on the whole Vietnam thing, it was not completely that way. After all it was not until late 1982 that the Vietnam War Memorial was built. And so with the conflict still a festering wound in American pride, the film, in my opinion, a brave one.
Walter Hill (The Long Riders, The Warriors) directs some excellent camera work in this movie, for the guardsmen at least he makes the whole area seem really claustrophobic and you really get a sense that they are indeed out in the middle of nowhere. The characters for me seemed pretty real to life too, I can imagine the guy in charge, who is generally a weak individual, relishing the opportunity to boss people around that are physically stronger than him. I can also imagine that the practical joke that sets the Cajuns off in the first place is something that does occur within reserve units around the world. These are just a few examples of areas that I thought were well thought out.
The Cajuns we don’t really see much of at the beginning, maybe a fleeting glimpse or a long shot, but we do get up close and personal with them towards the end of the movie. Brion James (Bladerunner) I think is probably the better known actor out of the locals and I think is superb. Also Sonny Landham (Predator) makes an appearance too.
The action is drip fed steadily throughout the movie and whilst there are some lulls it is never boring with some good death scenes. And the tension is there right up until the end when you wonder if anyone will survive.
Picture
Presented in 4:3 full screen the picture was not best suited to my 32" wide screen TV, although it was adequate for a movie of this age, the colours seemed a little washed out at times but again I think that was more down to the age of the film, although it may well have been intentional to give the film a colder, coming into winter look and feel.
Sound
No 5.1 or DTS on this movie just a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack, which doesn't really utilise the surrounds at all. The movie is mostly dialogue based with no fantastic upbeat music like you get in the Vietnam Movies like Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse now. Saying that the dialogue is clear and more than adequate, the 2.0 track takes away nothing from this movie in terms of enjoyment.
Extras
One trailer on this R2 release, very poor
Overall
despite the picture quality and Dolby 2.0 soundtrack this is a brilliant taut thriller that is well worth a purchase.
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