Rules of Engagement (film)

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Rules of Engagement
The movie poster for Rules of Engagement.
Directed by	William Friedkin
Produced by	Scott Rudin Richard D. Zanuck
Written by	James H. Webb Stephen Gaghan
Starring	Tommy Lee Jones Samuel L. Jackson
Music by	Mark Isham
Cinematography	Nicola Pecorini
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	March 31, 2000
Running time	128 min.
Language	English
Budget	$60,000,000
IMDb profile

Rules of Engagement is a 2000 American movie starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, directed by William Friedkin. The movie, a military and political drama, is about a Marine Colonel, played by Jackson, who is court-martialed for disobeying the rules of engagement in a military incident at an embassy.

The lead writer, James H. Webb, is a former Marine combat officer and lawyer, and is currently the junior United States Senator from Virginia.

1 Synopsis
2 Criticism
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The key scene in the movie takes place in Yemen, where an unruly crowd of local men, women and children demonstrate outside the U.S. embassy. Everything hinges on whether the crowd (a) was armed, and (b) fired first or if Colonel Childers exceeded his orders and reacted based on anger or a darker motive.

According to U.S. military law as explained in the film, Childers could be found guilty of murder for killing 83 noncombatants. But if some of them were carrying weapons and opened fire, he may be found innocent.

The prosecution asserts Childers order to fire was based on personal fear, racism, or confusion. The defence and Childers responds with statements that he was in fear for his Marines' lives and was in compliance with his orders and the rules of engagement. Previous actions by the then Lieutenant Childers in Vietnam were introduced by the prosecution to show a history of misconduct, including a witness to the original actions in Vietnam.

The actions in Vietnam, shown as a flashback in the first few minutes of the film, revolved around an ambush of then-Lieutenant Hodges' platoon by a Colonel Binh Le Cao, a North Vietnamese officer, and his men. While listening to sounds of the ambush, Childers and his Marines captured the Vietnamese officer and his radioman. In order to save Hodges and his platoon, Childers held a pistol to the radioman's head and tried to force Colonel Cao to withdraw his troops from the ambush in exchange for the officer and radioman's freedom. When the officer initially refused to comply, Childers executed Colonel Cao's subordinate. After the Vietnamese officer changed his mind and called off his troops, Childers released him.

During the testimony of Colonel Cao that Childers had illegally threatened him with death in order to save his Marines, the foreign officer admits that he would likely have done what Childers had. This appears to be a potential turning point in the trial and, ultimately, Colonel Childers is found not guilty on the multiple murder charges but guilty of breach of peace by a jury of his peers and his military career is essentially over.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Criticism

The film drew widespread criticism for its portrayal of Arab characters. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee described it as "probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood".^[1] Paul Clinton of the Boston Globe wrote "at its worst, it's blatantly racist, using Arabs as cartoon-cutout bad guys".

Also worth noting is that according to some, the movie depicts Mass-murder against civilians as a legitimate tool to achieve Military Victory.^[1]
However, the crowd is actually revealed to have been heavily armed, having fired first and even having killed several marines before any shots were returned. There was no "military victory" to speak of either, the mission being to protect American personnel evacuating the building, which is then looted by the protesters as the marines eventually withdraw. Whether or not the level of violence depicted is to be considered realistic may be called into question but at no point does the movie actually portray mass murder of unarmed civilians, and certainly not as a legitimate tool.