Something to watch tonight: Wednesday 10 December
The Last Full Measure (Robinson, 2020)
It was only after I had chosen to recommend this that I realised I was thinking of a completely different film1.
Luckily, I had reviewed The Last Full Measure for RNZ At the Movies back in 2020 and liked it so I’m just going to go ahead and pretend that this was the plan all along.
The Last Full Measure is a drama about the long campaign to award Air Force Pararescueman William H. Pitsenbarger the Medal of Honor for saving over 60 soldiers during one of the bloodiest battles of the (Vietnam) war.
…
… told through the eyes of a fictionalised Pentagon lawyer played by Sebastian Stan. He was Bucky in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in fact a few of the heavy-hitting cast of the picture also had roles in those superhero films: Samuel L Jackson, William Hurt appear alongside the likes of Christopher Plummer, Diane Ladd, Ed Harris, Bradley Whitford, John Savage and the late Peter Fonda in his final screen performance.
Fonda, in fact, is fantastic as a veteran with a desperate case of PTSD, one of those saved by Pitsenbarger and with a terrible survivor’s guilt that has haunted him for decades.
The Pentagon lawyer played by Stan, named Scott Huffman here, is an ambitious career-oriented guy, on the fast track to a big government appointment and a long career – maybe even politics. He thinks he’s been given this investigation to bury it in an election year but he makes the fateful step of actually meeting a few of the veterans and learning more about what went on during that fateful Operation Abilene in 1966.
Of course, their stories get their teeth into him and he realises that there has been an injustice that has to be put right.
The strength of The Last Full Measure is this great cast and they all get a scene or two to really unwind that talent. Sometimes you wish there was a little less telling and a bit more showing but who can cut these performers off when they are in full flow like this, despite how overwritten some of these speeches are. Besides, the recreations of the war are not the best showcases for writer and director Todd Robinson’s screencraft.
Set 32 years later, in the late 90s, The Last Full Measure mirrors its own story as it has taken Robinson over 20 years to get the film made. It seems as if America is just as unwilling to hear the testimony of their veterans now as they were then.
It’s a tricky balancing act, making a film about the Vietnam War that honours the real sacrifices but doesn’t belittle those sacrifices by worrying about how utterly pointless the whole conflict was and Robinson doesn’t even try. The only politics he is interested in here are internal military politics – which are fascinating by the way – and the relationships and trauma experienced between the men.
It’s also quite interesting on what medals and honours actually mean to those men. It’s not about glory or status – although it might be the higher up the chain you go – but Robinson and the voices of the veterans that he’s channelling suggests that those medals might be the only way their stories can be told in a way that those back home can understand. It makes something about their lives tangible to their families, anchors them to something other than their long sleepless nights.
Also reviewed in that May 2020 episode of ATM: the not-good Netflix comedy The Lovebirds (not to be confused with the also not-good local comedy Love Birds) and the already recommended here Colombian drama Monos.
By the way, if you’ve made a comment or otherwise reached out to us here at F&S, I apologise for slackness but on Saturday I’m interviewing James Cameron (JAMES CAMERON!) for RNZ and between prepping that and the day job, there hasn’t been much time left over.
Where to watch The Last Full Measure
Aotearoa, Australia and India: Streaming on Prime Video
Canada: Digital rental
Ireland: Streaming on Rakuten (free with ads)
USA: Streaming on Fubo
UK: Streaming on Prime Video or Rakuten (free with ads)