They lost me when


Pierce Brosnan was explaining to Owen Wilson that the rebels are "just like you and me". They just want to provide for and protect their families!

Uh, yeah, except these rebels were murdering and raping indiscriminately, and clearly didn't have any compassion for innocent children(referencing a scene towards the end with Owen's daughter). So, no, I don't think they are just like you and me. Even in war time (Vietnam war perhaps being an exception), I would HOPE we wouldn't be so gleefully murderous and rapey as this group was.

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The only thing a agree with in your post is the bit about Jack and his daughter and the gun by the river (I think the writers just added that to add to the tension). The rest is believable.
It probably did start out with the rebels just trying to protect their families, but maybe as the war went on they got carried away with anger? But don't forget that that is a completely different culture to the western side of the world, so who knows how they conduct their moral living, or what constitutes as moral.
Look at when Jack bashed that guys head in in that building. He was only doing that to protect his family, to stop that other guy from giving them away. That could be seen and just plain sadistic murder to the rebels. People who feel so repressed or hard done by and are fuelled with murderous rage will stop at nothing to make there point, even if it does mean murder, regardless if their moral compass and empathy extends outside their own family/world. You can feel empathy for the whole world, but when your life or family's life is at stake, it's all about number one.

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way condoning this at all! lol. I'm just explaining the survival and instincts behind it, why people in extreme circumstances change emotionally and personally when lives are threatened, etc.

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> The rest is believable.

Nothing believable in this movie ... it was terrible.

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How do you know if you where put in their situation you wouldn't be raping indiscriminately?

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You haven't been paying attention too much then. Americans abroad turn into monsters when they're at war as much as anybody else. Real life is not Hollywood.

This is not a signature!

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That last bit where the movie writers made the rebel leader appear so evil was stupid.


That was beyond "killing" for sovereignity reasons. That was purely evil. Not to mention the rape attempt... That was just too much.



Most people here would kill for their family and loved ones and are willing to cop the punishment what ever they may be.



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Even during the Vietnam war such barbarity was the rare exception rather than the rule. All of the horror stories in popular perception are based off of a handful of highly publicised occurrences, during a war lasting for years and involving hundreds of thousands of personnel.

Of course the real difference is that nobody ever tried to justify the actions of the American troops who committed such atrocities. Can you imagine anyone ever saying "oh those guys who burned down that village and raped all the women were really just gold boys trying to end the war and get home to their families"? It's absurd to even contemplate. Yet there's no shortage of "progressive" idiots who think such justifications are perfectly fine when applied to anyone from non-western nations.

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