A Soldier's Sweetheart

I think this is the first movie adaptation of a literary work that so closely and successfully follows its source material in tone and language. Vietnam veteran and author Tim O'Brien's short story occupies that shady ground between truths weirder than fiction and urban legend - and whether it's absolutely true or not really doesn't matter.

The film itself is a simple piece of atmosphere and sketches of character and psyche, with quiet, almost dream-like contrasts of naivete and brutality that drifts around the borders of the medical compound. During a lull in the action and off the front lines, the soldiers of the medical unit are only occasionally confronted with consequences of war, and never with the actuality of it, though it always hangs over their heads, personified by the Green Berets encamped nearby.

The "greenies" are rarely seen and almost never speak, coming and going from their violent encounters in the dark, like some strange mountain spirits. The mystery of the landscape, the war, and the promise of something _different_ seduce and ultimately swallow the "soldier's sweetheart."

The performances are spare and haunting, the premise intriguing, and the story fully captivating.