First of all, I feel I should say that I am not against the idea of a movie praising U.S. soldiers who were imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. These soldiers suffered greatly, and their stories are stories that need to be told. "The Hanoi Hilton" was obviously an attempt to tell these soldiers' stories, but it is greatly uneven.
One big problem is that the movie has a number of heavy-handed touches, namely with certain characters. It's not just with some of the communists (the prison warden, a visiting Cuban military officer), but also with liberal western characters (a visiting journalist, a Jane Fonda clone). The movie also takes way too long to get to the 1970s, and then it starts moving so quickly that the viewer barely gets a chance to absorb the now quickly unfolding scenes. And Michael Moriarty, while giving good performances in other works, is really miscast here. He seems too wimpish and meek to be a military person of high rank.
On the other hand, every so often there is a really good touch in the movie. The period detail is pretty good for the most part; real P.O.W.s praised the look of the movie. Some of the acting by the mostly no-name cast is pretty convincing, and there are a few scenes (a torture sequence with the audio cut out, the P.O.W.s having a Christmas dinner) that are really well done and have genuine power.
So the movie is far from terrible, but it also isn't exceptional. You may learn some things from this movie, but I have a feeling that if you want to learn what it was really like for these unfortunate men, you might find a book on the subject matter more informative.
One big problem is that the movie has a number of heavy-handed touches, namely with certain characters. It's not just with some of the communists (the prison warden, a visiting Cuban military officer), but also with liberal western characters (a visiting journalist, a Jane Fonda clone). The movie also takes way too long to get to the 1970s, and then it starts moving so quickly that the viewer barely gets a chance to absorb the now quickly unfolding scenes. And Michael Moriarty, while giving good performances in other works, is really miscast here. He seems too wimpish and meek to be a military person of high rank.
On the other hand, every so often there is a really good touch in the movie. The period detail is pretty good for the most part; real P.O.W.s praised the look of the movie. Some of the acting by the mostly no-name cast is pretty convincing, and there are a few scenes (a torture sequence with the audio cut out, the P.O.W.s having a Christmas dinner) that are really well done and have genuine power.
So the movie is far from terrible, but it also isn't exceptional. You may learn some things from this movie, but I have a feeling that if you want to learn what it was really like for these unfortunate men, you might find a book on the subject matter more informative.