A solid, perhaps sombre treatment of a literally toxic subject that many would, and did, try to ignore and brush under the carpet. The cast in the main are workmanlike and there's even a couple of recognisable faces like Ted Danson from Friends as Jim Tuite, and the substantial Brian Denney playing Sen. Donald Riegle. The screenplay and story arc are a kind of homage to All the President's Men, with its own Deepthroat in the shadows, stacks of paperwork, political stonewalling, etc and there's more than a bit of recreated Washington committee hearings, but these do lend some authenticity to the matter and provide the best bits as far as I'm concerned.... Okay it is a TV movie but I did have a problem with some of the production values in particular the sound architecture which was very strange and flat, and perhaps it was just my TV I don't know but the sound effects and the schmaltzy soundtrack did seem to overwhelm and indeed drown out some of the dialogue. As for the human drama of those affected, it was nice to have a human face on some of the people involved in this catastrophe. I note one reviewer was upset that the whole matter of the rectitude of the war itself wasn't dealt with, and indeed that might be a point that one draws from this. But of course that was not the remit of this particular movie and it strains to be largely pro-veteran, and patriotic, but it is cynical about politicians, and we never hear from President Bush. The "ghost of Vietnam" never leaves the story from start to the epilogue. The main arguement seems to be that one needs to create a future battlefield that's a lot more safe for the American soldier at least.
Review of Thanks of a Grateful Nation
