Runtime: The version on YouTube is 90 minutes
Directed by: Patrick Sheane Duncan
Starring: Plenty of unfamiliar actors but there is Richard Brooks & Glenn Morshower
From: New Century Vista Company
This is a Vietnam War movie… a found footage Vietnam War movie, that is! While that subgenre is mostly associated w/ horror, it is not exclusively. Before found footage became a fad for a few years in the 2000’s, there were a few even back in the 1980’s.
This was from Patrick Sheane Duncan, a Vietnam War veteran himself. The gimmick is that the footage is officially shot for the Army by a soldier in the late 1960’s; his codename is the film’s title and MoPic stands for “motion picture.” A small reconnaissance team is being followed as they go behind enemy lines in territory control by the North Vietnamese. Plenty of time is spent getting to know all the personalities as they talk to each other & the camera. They are a tight-knit group where the leader being a Black man is irrelevant & conflict arises when a new soldier (not MoPic) butts heads w/ everyone else. Is it a spoiler to suggest that things go wrong?
This low-budget effort is far more about the setting and characters than any action; there are only a few scenes where weapons are fired. Getting to know the soldiers is key as when bad things happen and the result is dramatic moments & reaction, that hits harder. Found footage seemingly is used too often as a gimmick and/or a way to be cheap; this was an example where the technique fit the themes of how mundane war can be yet in a split-second tragedy can occur. The war-weary men who can’t wait to return to their families back home, the one soldier in contrast who wants to be a lifer, the little details to avoid detection… it was all fascinating and a different take on the war movie. Of course it was incredibly unfair for the movie to be released in the Philippines as PLATOON 2, but that’s not the fault of the filmmakers.
Regrettably, the film is usually difficult to track down; thus, when I stumbled upon a print on YouTube that was just uploaded, it was an immediate priority for viewing. As of posting the video’s still up but it’s always a gamble on that platform as to what remains & what gets banished.
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