Southern Comfort

Now this is a atmospheric survival action film and Walter Hill at his peak. Love it! It's so simple (although streaming through it is a biting allegory about the Vietnam War), but nonetheless exhilarating, tense and raw film-making. Sure the acting and dialogues aren't master-class, but however they're commendably pulled off. In which case Powers Boothe (whose booming voice takes charge) and Keith Carradine (excellently pitched as the guy of reasoning) are terrific leads, and the support Fred Ward (a memorably hot-head and tooting turn), T.K Carter, Lewis Smith, Franklyn Seales, Peter Coyote and Brion James are also quite compelling. Tough, authentic and a real sense of claustrophobic tension stems from the actor's rapport and cynical script. This blends well with the brutal bloody violence (like the barnstorming climax with the powerful freeze frame closing) and the dank, devouring swamp terrain that ultimately swallows them up. But where I think it's at its most effective is during the interludes of Ry Cooder's fascinatingly folksy music score. Each time it creeps in, it demonstrates the right illustrations to the striking visuals and harrowing moods. Cooder's handling is multi-layered and truly echoing. From a relaxing southern flavour, to a haunting stillness and a punishing sting. It's cohesively perfect in it's random shifts. Hill's bravura direction holds up tautly, as the well-used slow motion is suitably done and the highly measured suspense piercingly infused. I liked how the hunters are kept as void-like background figures, because towards the end it makes the whole paranoid feeling and unease thrillingly justified.

As a Frenchman I've long been fascinated with Cajun culture, surviving against all odds, so when I learned "Southern Comfort" was like "Deliverance" with Cajuns I figured it had to be fun and that I should check it out. I wasn't disappointed.

The plot is pretty simple. A National Guard squad gets stranded in Cajun country swamps, and are victim to attacks from the locals who consider that it's their land, and the film predictably proceeds in having the soldiers killed one at a time while they also destroy each-other because of their increasing paranoia.

The score and cinematography are great, as is the acting. However I must say that ultimately most of the movie with the soldiers stranded in the swamps isn't as intense as it could have been. It's surely entertaining, but pretty basic, and for that only I would have given "Southern Comfort" a 7. However, the last 20 minutes of the movie are absolutely fantastic, elevating the film to something highly satisfying. I don't want to spoil anything, and anyway I probably couldn't accurately describe how superbly cut the climatic ending of "Southern Comfort" is. If most of the film is just above average, the ending makes sitting through it even more worthwhile, as it all builds up to those last scenes.

The theme of the film obviously borrows from the Vietnam war, and the film itself inspired later films. Just a little trivia for you, I actually first learned about "Southern Comfort" from reading about the film "Aliens". "Southern Comfort" producer David Giler convinced the studio to make an "Alien" sequel by making the sequel like "Southern Comfort" in space. And it's true that "Aliens" does have a similar Vietnam war theme.

Anyway, "Southern Comfort" is a good 80s film which truly did remind me of "Deliverance", so if you liked that film, you will like this one too. Recommended.

Civilization vs. Nature rules. Or a powerful metaphor of Vietnam War a decade earlier. Most of all a film with great tension (that includes the Ry Cooder music themes) with good characterizations (especially that of Powers Booth as the Texan guy and Keith Carradine's in his last appearance in a above average film) from an "auteur" of the American Film Industry (Walter Hill in one of his best films among with "The Warriors" and "48th Hours") about the routine exercise of National Guardsmen in a swamp and the fatal battle with the local Cajuns. Nature's revenge in a strange way as in the familiar "Deliverance". Highly recommended

A group of National Guardsmen led by Hardin(Powers Boothe)and Spencer(Keith Carradine)get on the bad side of swamp-dwelling Cajuns while conducting maneuvers in the bayou.Bloodshed ensues.Hardin and Spencer must then go on the run through the Louisiana swamps if they're to survive.This violent and exciting survival thriller owes a lot to John Boorman's fantastic "Deliverance".Walter Hill does a fine job of showing how an area as large as a bayou can be claustrophobic and the ultra-intense finale shows some top-notch editing.The acting is great and the script raises some serious questions about the behaviour of man."Southern Comfort" can also be seen as an allegorical treatment of the Vietnam conflict.8 out of 10.A must-see!

Upon first viewing this film seems to just be another above average entry to the bayou sub-genre.Added to the likes of Deliverance and the first Rambo.However look closely and this tale of unexperienced guardsmen fighting off psychotic cajuns takes on another meaning. The whole film can be taken as a sly metaphor for the Vietnam war which took place almost a decade and a half before the film was made.

On one side you have the inexperienced and overequipped guardsmen, perfectly representing the technology and youth of the American forces.On the other side is the cajuns.Small in number but still very effective utilising there knowledge of the area and using nature itself to lay traps. So what at first sight seems an action packed thriller is also a gritty metaphor for one of the horrors of the last century.The film is well directed and paced.Right from the start the pace doesn't flag.The fact that the cast are mostly unknowns only adds to the tension,the audience not knowing who will bite it next.All in all an exciting thriller and well worth watching.