En territoire ennemi

"Behind Enemy Lines" is a film with a bit of controversy. The story clearly was based on the experiences of US Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady...but they took great liberties with the facts and O'Grady felt he was maligned by the movie because the lead (Owen Wilson) had a lousy attitude at the beginning of the film and was insubordinate...unlike the real life O'Grady. The film also changes a lot of the facts--making the plane a two-seat Navy plane (an F-18 Super Eagle) flown from an aircraft carrier instead of the single seat F-16 O'Grady flew from an air base. Regardless, the film still is quite exciting and worth seeing.

The story begins on a US aircraft carrier. Lt. Burnett (Wilson) is annoyed flying during the 1995 cease fire over what was Yugoslavia, as they are simply flying reconnaissance missions...and avoiding combat with the Bosnians. After submitting his request for discharge from the Navy, the Admiral (Gene Hackman) chews Burnett out and assigns him extra duty...in this case, a recon mission on Christmas.

Unfortunately, the two-seat plane is shot down by Serbs...a violation of the cease fire. After both the pilot and navigator eject, the Serbs execute the pilot...and the navigator, Burnett, manages to escape and the rest of the film concerns the Serbs trying to kill Burnett because of the information he's gained from the mission about troop movements and genocide. To avoid death, Burnett runs many miles over hostile territory to safety.

As I watched the film, it became clear that the film was intended thrill audiences at the expense of common sense....especially at the end of the picture. Seeing the Admiral flying a helicopter on the rescue mission seemed pretty dopey and the US Navy would never risk a command officer on such a mission. There also were some stunts at the end which were pretty dim as well. Exciting? Yes....but at the expense of realism. In reality, helicopters AND Marine fighter planes were involved in the mission (the film onlys showed helicopters, which seemed silly flying into such hostile territory when they DID have an aircraft carrier filled with planes!).

Oh, and while it's not terribly important, the film takes place over Christmas and O'Grady's plane was actually shot down around June.

Overall, a fun film to watch but do NOT take it to be a history lesson.

Note this is not a war movie. Instead it is a survival story set during a war. Viewed in that sense, it is an incredible action-packed drama. The photography is insanely good, with some fantastic aerial shots. Hail to director John Moore for having such a clear vision of what he wanted the end product to look like. This was so incredible, it is hard to believe it was his directorial debut feature.

Owen Wilson does a styling job here, so much so that I can't understand why he does comedy more often than drama. He just does drama so well. The film has amazing visuals, fast paced action, great acting, great music, great effects, great suspense - what else could one ask for to be entertained? This was a thrill-ride from beginning to end, with never a dull moment. It just got better and better as it progressed - and what an ending!

F-18 Fighter navigator Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) is tired of boring meaningless flying over the Balkins. On a routine Christmas mission, he gets stuck on a recon mission. They go off course to scout a target, but get shot down. The Serbs find the pilot and executes him. Chris goes on the run alone against massive forces. Meanwhile Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart (Gene Hackman) in command of the carrier sets out to rescue the down pilot despite orders not to.

There are many things going wrong with this movie. First there is no way any command would not go to Hell to rescue a down pilot. A bit of diplomacy is not going to stop any American command. The only possible excuse is logistics, and an aircraft carrier has all the logistic they need.

Then there is the standard bad guys can't shot straight. Owen Wilson is bullet proof. They are blowing up the entire country and yet they keep missing the guy. It gets ridiculous after awhile.

This is a blow em up action thriller disguised as a realistic military movie. If you forget any pretense of real danger, this is a good fun time having things explode.

I truly enjoyed this movie, because it took a lighthearted approach to 'running for your life' while serving in the forces. I was, however, disheartened by the fact that Scott O'Grady brought down a law suit on the study for "portraying him" in a bad light. This movie was about anything else but Scott O'Grady. Note: Sorry Scott, but it's not about you...

I enjoyed the way Wilson took control of his character and lived up to the expectation of what one would expect from a Navy pilot. Let's not forget Gene 'The Man' Hackman. It's difficult to imagine Hackman 'not' being in the service because he does it so 'friggin' well.

The movie is suspenseful and the supporting cast is simply awesome! It's just one of those films where not enough credit was given to everyone, all around!

Let's see. Take one standard action film involving Americans, add in a new baddie for them to triumph over, and have the baddies act atrociously and brutally, then let the good guys be victorious in the end.

That about sums up BEL. It has reasonable special effects, a plot that is simple and oh so seen before, and a square jawed handsome hero (although, looking at Wilson's nose, not that handsome).

People have already remarked on various inaccuracies and symbolism such as the angel in the midst of war etc. Instead of going over those I'd like to point out the overriding message this film taught me.

That it's OK to disobey orders. Disobey them in such a way as to get your best friend killed. But that's OK, because no matter what happens when you disobey orders, it all comes out good in the end. You feel better about yourself and you'll bring the bad guys to book. So don't worry about your best friend. He was only a plot device anyway.

One thing is certain, though. As long as there is conflict in the world, there will be a Hollywood movie to glorify it and vilify the enemy.

And just who were the enemy? The Bosnians? The Serbs? The Croats? The film didn't seem very certain itself and neither was I, even at the end.

Particularly laughable (and somewhat disturbing) in this no brainer action film was the dreadful end sequence, where we get to find out (via the wonder of the subtitled explanation) what happens to the main characters.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but such final scene "what they did next" stuff in my book is reserved for two types of film - comedy spoofs and documentaries. This film is certainly no comedy, so the appearance of these notes, to me, would seem to imply that the movie was in part based in reality. I find this disturbing simply because there are any number of extremely dumb people out there that would see such final comments and assume the film was, after all, based on true events. And it's this kind of "it happened like this" cinema (which most often involves Americans saving the world) that concerns me most. U571 is another, now notorious, example of this. Apparently its true that history is written by the victors......

As for the movie, the opening scenes are the most rewarding. Once the movie passes into its middle it becomes a bit dull and the ending, as others have observed, is more like a Rambo film and gets quite farcical.

The movie is best watched whilst a few drinks shy of inebriation. You'll enjoy it more and not notice the foolishness (hopefully).