During the Vietnam War, Sgt Meserve kidnaps a Vietnamese female villager to service his squad during a dangerous reconnaissance mission, but only soldier Eriksson opposes him. Eriksson finds himself the outsider of his own squad.

New Hollywood manifested many takedowns of the Vietnam war, all arguably varying in political positions. None, though, are more focused than this searing critique from Brian De Palma, which condemns the invasion as indefensibly unjust. A political yet character-driven work of great emotional power.