Patrick Duncan's debut feature arrived late in the cycle of Vietnam War films but offered a unique perspective of the conflict, with no '60s nostalgia, no Heart of Darkness allegorical significance, and no coming-of-age baptism by fire. The film instead consists entirely of footage shot by an Army cameraman assigned to follow a six-man reconnaissance unit behind enemy lines, in effect making the audience another member of the patrol. It's a fascinating way to depict warfare at its most intimate and vulnerable level, without the crutch of big budget production values, but Duncan's faux-documentary technique sometimes works against itself because, strictly speaking, this isn't a documentary, and some of the dialogue sounds all too obviously scripted. The film works best when the camera is simply eavesdropping, showing how their proximity to death bonds each soldier together regardless of race or rank, and capturing like no other war film the tense ambiance of patrolling through hostile territory.
