Courage under Fire (1996) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Matt Damon, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty, Bronson Pinchot, Sean Astin, Scott Glenn, Regina Taylor, Seth Gilliam

Courage under Fire reunites Denzel Washington with his Glory director Edward Zwick and the results are powerful and challenging.  Washington plays Lt. Colonel Nathan Serling, who is assigned by the Pentagon to investigate deceased army captain Karen Walden's (Ryan) nomination for a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor and the circumstances surrounding her death in battle during the Gulf War.  Serling is a psychologically wounded alcoholic involved in a recent battlefield miscommunication which resulted in an American soldier being killed by friendly fire.  Serling's superior and friend General Hershberg (Moriarty) assigns him the Walden case in order to deflect heat from him and with hopes the grateful Serling will rubber stamp the nomination and the Pentagon will have a feel-good moment of the medal being placed around Walden's daughter's neck. 

Serling interviews the surviving members of Walden's crew including Ilario (Damon), Monfriez (Diamond Phillips), and Altameyer (Gilliam), all of whom recall a terrifying 24 hours in which Walden is painted as a hero, a coward, indecisive, or all three.  We see the events from each soldier's point of view, and we know something is being concealed.  Ilario is too forthcoming, Monfriez is not forthcoming enough, and Altameyer is in a VA hospital begging for morphine.  Serling searches deeper and deeper for the truth, while also grappling with the truth of his own controversy involving the soldier killed on his watch.  Did he accidentally give the order to open fire on what he thought was an enemy tank?   

General Hershberg is pressuring Serling for the report sooner rather than later, completeness and thoroughness be damned, while former Marine-turned-Washington Post reporter Gartner (Glenn) is poking around looking for more than the official story on the investigation into the death of the soldier in Serling's unit.  Serling also moved out on his loving wife (Taylor) and children, and while she understands his fragile state of mind, she also lets him know she won't wait forever for his return.  Serling is home from the Middle East, but only physically.   Washington gives a brilliant performance as a man under intense scrutiny and inner conflict who decides to follow his investigation wherever it may lead.   Ryan was playing against type this time as the tough, determined Walden instead of as a romantic comedy lead.   I've said before Ryan had more smiles than most people have expressions, but here we don't see the pearly whites all that much, just grit and focus. 

The stories all lead to two powerful payoffs, one expected and one not as expected.  Courage under Fire is a compelling mystery which follows the nature of war to its complicated conclusions, whatever they may be.