La Voz

Period: Vietnam Era Title: "Platoon" (1986) Director: Oliver Stone

Private Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a young soldier new to the "bush" and quickly comes to realize what he faces in the midst of battle and crisis. On one side, he sees the evil of man from Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger). On another side he sees the goodness of man in Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe). Then the innocence is lost when there is injustice. Men in the same platoon, are separated by feelings and the sense of place. Taylor sees all the atrocities of war and all the hatred and evil a man is capable of having. "The first casualty of war is innocence." This movie is highly recommended and is considered by many as a real look at what Vietnam was like. Platoon makes you think of what we as humans are really capable of, and what war can do to a human. Also look for young Johnny Depp speaking fluent Vietnamese.

Period: American Revolutionary War Title: "The Crossing" (2000) Director: Robert Harmon

The movie is about the crossing of the Delaware River in a last effort to over Trenton, New Jersey where there are only 1000 Hessian mercenaries. A daring attack on Christmas morning takes place so it would catch them off-guard. It doesn't have the best special effects, but the story is worth telling. And with Jeff Daniels playing General George Washington, it is truly a movie to give a spark of patriotism. The patriots are lacking in supplies, have many soldiers desert them, and enlist men who are about to have their service completed. In the worst situation possible, General Washington takes his men far into the enemy territory and uses the element of surprise for a victory. The best scene is when General Washington orders a small group of his Rangers to take out the one guard post in its way to the Hessian Camp. The Rangers break in and use brute force to wipe them out like an Elite Spec Ops unit clearing a room in under 10 seconds.

Period: World War II Title: "The Great Raid" (2005) Director: John Dahl

The Great Raid shows how the most successful raid in the history in the United States takes place. The 6th Ranger Battalion along with Filipino allies, works together to free the 500 prisoners of war in a Japanese Prison Camp. Lieutenant Colonel Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) leads the Rangers into the mission with the help of James Franco's character, Captain Prince, who makes the plan of operation. The Japanese force POWs to build air raid shelters and then fill the shelters with the POWs and cover them with gasoline and burn them all alive in accordance with the Kill-All Policy Japan orders during the war. The Rangers go and rescue all of the POWs and bring them home with the Filipino guerilla forces as they cover the Rangers' flanks. A truly inspiring film about how no one should ever be forgotten and left behind.

Period: American Civil War Title: "Glory" (1989) Director: Edward Zwick

From all the movies about the Civil War, Glory really shows what it is like for African-American soldiers during the war. They aren't al- lowed to do anything. They have all black regiments where they won't fight, but just do hard labor or destroy towns. The 54th Regiment is the first to go into combat. The 54th leads the first attack on Fort Wagner, which would give the North access to the Confederate city of Charleston, South Carolina. Matthew Broderick plays Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, which he fought for since he is a distant relative of the actual colonel. The best part in this movie is when the company charges the beach toward Fort Wagner with artillery fire hitting them, and how they continue to charge and actually make it to the fort and battle the Confederate soldiers to the death. It shows that when you know death is near, you continue with all your brothers and let loose the dogs of war, where you will not die easily. Awesome performance from Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman as 54th Regiment soldiers. Washington played the rebellious Private Trip while Freeman's character, Sergeant Major John Rawlins, is the soldier that brings a lot of the company to order and relays messages through them to Colonel Shaw.

Period: Cold War Title: "The Hunt for Red October" (1990) Director: John McTiernan

Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) is captain of the new Soviet Nuclear Submarine that has the silent capability of positioning itself along any coastal city without warning and firing missiles inland to a certain target. Ramius makes his own plans when doing tests with his crew on the sub, and takes the sub towards the states. The Russians are trying to reach to him in fear of him defecting with the new equipment, and the United States has no idea what's going on. CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) knows of the sub through a friend, and wants to find out if Ramius is trying to defect. He has no support through his superiors but wants to help. This movie is an intense look at all the things that could be going on underwater anywhere in the world. The firepower of one submarine can bring mass destruction to a nation and no one has any idea of where the sub is. An awesome movie based off of Tom Clancy's popular novel.

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