- Also Known As:
- Tunnel Rats
- Year:
- 2008
- Country/ies:
- Canada
- Germany
- Predominant Genre:
- War
- Author(s)/Director(s):
- Uwe Boll
- Outstanding Performance(s):
- None.
- Premiss:
- Suicide squads of a special kind.
- Theme(s):
- Alienation
- Destiny
- Emotional repression
- Empathy
- Humanity
- Identity
- Narcissism
- Personal change
- Redemption
- Solipsism
- White culture
- White guilt
- White supremacy
- Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
- Unknown
- Review Format:
- DVD
Mature, well-balanced Vietnam War movie detailing the grim affects of a grim war upon both sides of the conflict. Interestingly, this plays more like a horror movie than a war film that, in the 18-certificate circumstances depicted, is more than appropriate.
As usual with representations of this particular war, the flawed politics of all overtly political (ie, non-defensive) wars is implied throughout, since the emphasis here is on graphically-pointless deaths. Stylistically, however, the claustrophobia of the tunnels - in which much of the action takes place - contrasts somewhat badly with the blandness of the land battle scenes. Fortunately, there are not too many of the latter.
A cast of unknowns does very well in the claustrophobic confines of the bomb-evading tunnels built by their enemies: Many of which are cleverly designed as booby-traps and decoys. These rats convince the audience of their extreme bravery in descending into tunnels about which they can possess little fore-knowledge. Yet the characters are less important in this movie than the over-riding theme: Mutually Assured Destruction. Impossible to see how the US (or anyone else) could ever have won such a war.
There are lessons here, too, for Whites current War on Terror in the highlighting of the essentially permanent nature of warfare in human life, as it proceeds from attack, counter attack, counter counter attack, etc – in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
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