Conference bookie::movies

311.0. "64 Charlie MOPIC" by 3131::PRIESTLEY () Tue Aug 24 1993 19:15

    I posted something on this movie in the old conference, but I think it
    is worth another posting.
    
    Back some time ago, I caught a movie on American Playhouse, I do not
    know if it was ever available for general release or if it was an
    original.  It was called "64 Charlie MOPIC"
    
    The story takes place during the Vietnam War  and it follows the last
    mission of a small Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP for short). 
    The interesting twist on this film is that it is filmed from the
    perspective of one of the characters, an army motion picture
    photographer, thus the name of the film which is the Military
    Occupation Specialty designator for that profession.  The film picks up
    with the arrival of the MOPIC and a new 2nd. LT who is taking over the
    LRRP team which has been run, here-to-fore by a battle hardened
    sargent.  The team is comprised of very different men, from totally
    different walks of life, all with different backgrounds, beliefs and
    reasons for being there.  Despite this, they all work together as a
    team.   
    
    Through the film, the MOPIC interviews the various members of the team
    regarding their particular experiences and views on things, at the same
    time, he is filming the actual mission they are engaged in and learning
    about fieldcraft himself.  As the story goes on, things start to happen
    and all the emotions gather and swell and explode on screen with some
    really exceptinal performances by relatively unknown actors.  At times
    I found myself turning away, changing the channel, shaking, crying,
    etc.  I always went back because i wanted to know what happened to the
    characters.  It took me at least an hour for my pulse rate to slow and
    the shakes to go away once the film was over.  This film is not
    entertaining, but it is seriously affecting, at least for me.  
    
    I must admit that part of the impact on me is based on the fact that I
    was an infantryman for a short time and had enlisted to do exactly that
    sort of work, fortunately I never had to, but I trained for it and knew
    exactly what was going on as well as all the risks and dangers
    involved.  For me it was one of the more frightening things I had ever
    seen.
    
    If you get a chance to see this, do watch it, it is a really fine film.
    
    
    Andrew

    I'd heard about this film for a couple of years and had never been able
    to find it. I did, eventually, in Holland, in a videostore that seems
    to specialise in action and horror movies. I wonder what the owners
    thought they were buying when they ordered it.
    
    I have to agree. I think it's an excellent film and it's still in my
    mind at least a year after seeing it. It never seems forced, or faked
    and the fact that the whole movie is always being shot from one vantage
    point never gets tedious or distracting: the camera always seems to be
    in the right place at the right time but, as I say, without the film
    ever appearing to be 'staged'.
    
    Has the director ever done anything else?
    
    

If he's done anything else, it's not in the databases.

Incidentally, the number in the title is '84', not '64'.

	Right-o, 84C is a motion picture specialist

	/Cap'n Quad