Top Ten Modern Military Movies #9

 

Courage Under Fire  -(1996)

A veteran of the war genre with the epic and phenomenal Glory, Edward Zwick turned to the Gulf War for this Denzel Washington/Meg Ryan starrer. Washington plays Colonel Serling, a tank commander who mistakenly gave the order to fire on a friendly tank, killing a comrade named Captain Boylar. The incident is covered up by the military and Serling reassigned.

When Serling is tasked with the job of determining if the deceased Captain Walden (Ryan) should receive a posthumous Medal of Honor, he stumbles upon yet another cover-up and as a result is faced with confronting his own guilt over the death of Captain Boylar. It’s a riveting drama that attempts to redefine courage and depict bravery in ways other than charging into battle.