- A U.S. Army officer, despondent about a deadly mistake he made, investigates a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor.
- The pilot of a rescue copter, Captain Karen Walden, died shortly before her helicopter crew was rescued after it crashed in Desert Storm. It first appears that she made a spectacular rescue of a downed helicopter crew, then held her own crew together to fight off the Iraqis after her copter crashed. Lt. Colonel Serling, who is struggling with his own demons from Desert Storm, is assigned to investigate her worthiness for the Medal of Honor. But some conflicting accounts, from her crew and soldiers in the area, cause him to question whether she deserves it.—Brian W Martz <B.Martz@Genie.com>
- Two fictional combat stories come together in this film set during the Gulf War (Aug. 1990-Feb. 1991) and afterwards. LCol Nat Serling is haunted by a mistake he made that cost the lives of a friend and his tank crew. He investigates the recommended Medal of Honor for Capt. Karen Walden, who was killed after her rescue helicopter was shot down. Conflicting reports lead him to probe deeper to uncover the truth about Walden and all of her crew, who survived. In the process, he comes to grips with his own demons.—SimonJack
- This film is a series of flashbacks in which Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Serling attempts to determine whether Captain Karen Walden deserves to be the first woman ever to win the Medal of Honor for combat.—Lisa Buckley <buckley@idirect.com>
- While serving in the first Gulf War (when the US army was tasked to evict the Iraqi army from Kuwait, and they had set light to all the crude oil wells as they retreated), Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) accidentally destroys one of his own tanks during a confusing night-time battle, killing his friend, Captain Boylar (Tim Ransom). Boylar's tanks had taken up the flank while Serling led the center column. While many enemy tanks are destroyed, one batch hides behind the dunes and starts attacking just as Boylar's flank tanks come alongside them. In the night battle, Serling is unable to distinguish friend from foe and fires on all tanks in front of him (Boylar was firing at the enemy tanks, but Serling's pilot thinks they were firing at the US tanks and identifies it as the enemy), which includes Boylars. The U.S. Army covers up the details and transfers Serling to a desk job.
Later, Serling is assigned to determine if Captain Karen Emma Walden (Meg Ryan) should be the first woman to (posthumously) receive the Medal of Honor. She was the commander of a Medevac Huey helicopter that was sent to rescue the crew of a shot-down Black Hawk helicopter.
First Lieutenant Chelli (Ned Vaughn) says that he was in the downed black hawk helicopter, which was on a ridge surrounded by enemy forces. Soon, they were attacked by a tank. 2 crew died, and 1 lost his leg (Sergeant Egan (David McSwain)). Soon, they heard a med evacuation copter coming their way for a rescue. When the medical evacuation encountered a T-54 enemy tank, her crew destroyed it by dropping a fuel bladder onto the tank and igniting it with a flare gun. However, her own helicopter was shot down soon after. The two crews were unable to join forces (the med evacuation was between the enemy and the black hawk crew and caught most of the gunfire from the enemy all through the night), and when the survivors were rescued the next day, Walden was reported dead. The Black hawk crew heard the med evacuation crew returning fire to the Iraqis with a M-16 all through the rescue operation (which means someone left behind was still alive). Then the A10 thunderbolts drop napalm on the 2 downed choppers. Bruno (Bronson Pinchot), a White House aide pushes Serling to wrap up the inquiry quickly so that Walden can be awarded the medal on Veteran's Day. Brigadier General Hershberg (Michael Moriarty) is Serling's boss and is not allowing the full truth behind Boylar's death to be made public. Serling wants that so that he can tell the truth to Boylar's parents. Throughout the investigation, Serling is hounded by Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn), Washington post reporter, for a comment on his own war record, specifically the Boylar incident.
Serling notices inconsistencies between the testimonies of Walden's crew. Warrant Officer One A. Rady (Tim Guinee), the co-pilot, was injured early on (he claims that Walden gave the order to drop the fuel bladder on the tank and light it up with a flare gun and right after that the chopper took hits from enemy fire) and unconscious throughout. Specialist Andrew Ilario (Matt Damon), the medic, praises Walden strongly (He says that after the chopper went down, Walden asked Monfriez to set up a perimeter, while Ilario tended to Rady. Walden led the crew through the night, keeping them on 2 hr watches and conserving ammo. Walden was hit during an enemy raid which they repelled successfully. Walden continues to guide the team till the morning, when the enemy attacks their position. But that's when the rescue arrives, and Walden stays behind while her crew is rescued. As they get into the chopper Monfriez tells the rescue chopper that Walden is dead, and it takes off and orders the napalm drop). Ilario confirms that the M-16 ran out of ammo in the morning before the main attack began. Ilario says he sent Walden's letter to her parents, but her parents (Joel Walden (Ken Jenkins) & Geraldine Walden (Kathleen Widdoes)) never received it.
However, Staff Sergeant John Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillips) claims that Walden was a coward and that he led the crew in combat and improvised the fuel bladder weapon. He says the M-16 ran out of ammo in the morning. Monfriez was the one fighting through the night and Walden was crying and took a shot during the enemy raid. Walden wanted to surrender. during the rescue, Walden fired at Monfriez and refused to move as it was not safe. An explosive blew up close to her and she died. Furthermore, the crew of the Black Hawk claim that they heard firing from an M16, but Ilario and Monfriez claim it was out of ammo. Ilario & Altameyer go missing. Serling asks Tony help him track down both. In exchange he promises Tony a tape of the tank communications that night when Boylar died.
Tony tracks Sergeant Steven Altameyer (Seth Gilliam), who is dying in a hospital (abdominal cancer), talks in a scared manner about the napalm fire, before upping his own medicines and blacking out. Under pressure from the White House and his commander, Brigadier General Hershberg (Michael Moriarty), to wrap things up quickly, Serling leaks the Boylar story (the tanks communications take) to a newspaper reporter, Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn) (a Washington Post reporter and Vietnam veteran), to prevent the cover-up. When Serling grills Monfriez during a car ride, Monfriez forces him to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint, then commits suicide by driving into an oncoming train.
Serling tracks Ilario down, and Ilario finally tells him the truth. Monfriez wanted to flee, which would mean abandoning Rady. When Walden refused, he pulled a gun on her. Walden then shot an enemy who appeared behind Monfriez, but Monfriez thought Walden was firing at him and shot her in the stomach, before backing off and handing off his M-16 to Walden. The next morning, the enemy attacked again as a rescue party approached. Walden covered her men's retreat, firing an M16. However, Monfriez told the rescuers that Walden was dead, so they left without her. Napalm was then dropped on the entire area. Altameyer tried to expose Monfriez's lie at the time, but was too injured to speak, and Ilario was too scared of the court-martial Walden had threatened them with and remained silent. The tapes reveal that after Boylar died, Serling displayed leadership by asking all friendly tanks to turn on their lights, so they could identify the enemy tanks and shoot at them. The gambit works and all enemy tanks are destroyed.
Serling presents his final report to Hershberg. Walden's young daughter Anne Marie Walden (Christina Stojanovich) receives the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony. Later, Serling tells the truth to the Boylars about the manner of their son's death and says he cannot ask for forgiveness. The Boylars tell Serling he must release his burden at some point and grant him their forgiveness. In the last moments, Serling has a flashback of when he was standing by Boylar's destroyed tank and a Medevac Huey was lifting off with his friend's body. Serling suddenly realizes Walden was the Huey pilot.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content