'Soldiers' honors American warriors

The Paramount picture "We Were Soldiers," starring Mel Gibson, tells about the events of a three-day battle that took place in the Ia Drang Valley pitting the 7th Cavalry against a division of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars.\nThe DVD holding the film, directed by Randall Wallace, has the normal whiz-bangs of any DVD out on the market, but this DVD is graced with the ever-desirable set of special features. While there aren't any bloopers, my personal favorites -- the director's commentary, deleted scenes and a special segment called "Getting it Right" -- make me think the celluloid in the can we all saw in theaters wasn't half as exciting.\nIn "Getting it Right," we start off by seeing actual footage of then-Lt. Col. Hal Moore talk to news cameras on the battlefield about the heroism of his men throughout the three-day onslaught of death and destruction. \nWe also see interviews of those associated with the film discussing how hard they all worked to ensure the film was as historically accurate as possible. They also try to express their hopes that the film serves as a testament to the bravery of American servicemen on that field of battle situated in the central highlands of South Vietnam. \nMost touching were the interviews with the real men who actually fought that day, including UPI reporter Joe Galloway, who took pictures and fought in the battle, and from the real Hal Moore, now a retired lieutenant general, who said Hollywood finally got the message right: "Hate war, but love the American warrior."\nAlso on the DVD are 10 deleted scenes, all of which are interesting and prompt you to yell and scream at the imaginary director and editor sitting next to you about why they should have left this scene in the film. The disc also includes optional director commentaries to run with the deleted scenes. This way you can listen to the so-called logic the director used to make the sometimes seemingly poor decisions to remove the scenes.\nAll in all, this is the most accurate war film made to date. It was a definite must-see in the box office, and it remains even more so in the new-release section.