Southern Comfort follows a squad of National Guardsmen as they head into the Louisiana Swamps for a weekend exercise, however stuff goes wrong when one of the Guardsmen decides to play a prank on the locals living there and soon sparks a war between the two sides.
Southern Comfort takes place in 1973 and is often viewed as an allegory for the Vietnam War, however director Walter Hill denies this connection and told the cast and crew "I don't want to hear anymore about it"
I really liked the way the characters were written, there is a lot of depth to them and you will be questioning their every move and motive. Some of them are flawed but still seem like decent guys whist others are total psychopaths and soon they start fighting amongst themselves and it's all very intense to watch. Especially when one of the other guys nearly gets a bunch of them killed....then stops talking to anyone, leaving the squad confused on how to deal with him.
The movie is stunning to look at, I watched it on a budget DVD but I can imagine the movie looks gorgeous on a Blu-Ray. The film crew went through hell to film this thing and they did it all on location in Caddo Lake, Louisiana,
Ry Cooder's soundtrack is also gorgeous, it's one of those soundtracks that I will just listen to randomly whenever I'm doing a task to relax...it's great stuff.
I've heard about an ANTI-US Iran version in which it's said they guys in the movies have committed crimes in the Vietnam War so they've been sent into the swamps with only blank rounds to fight some angry hostiles but they don't know it. Also the ending was altered slightly.....weird
Southern Comfort is an outstanding film, it has a great cast, beautiful cinematography, a compelling story and an amazing soundtrack. Go see it
