War movies, do they actually tell the truth about war?

                                       
War stories and war movies are talking about the same things, but differ when it comes to first hand perspective of war. I will be examining the war movie Three Kings, starring Ice Cube, Matt Damon, and George Clooney, and I will be comparing this to the writer Tim O'Brien, and his war story The Things They Carried. In the beginning of the Three kings you hear the sound of marching, in which according to Tim O'Brien you do a lot of marching in the war, he portrays the marching as a mindless activity.  These soldiers sneak out of a camp in order to find a secret location filled with Huddan's gold. They then start to have an internal conflict when they come to confiscate Huddans gold, and come across a family about to be executed. In the end of this conflict they decide to help the family.

The part that is most critical is the ending, it determines the moral, and it determines if it's a true war story or not by the way it ends. According to Tim O'Brien the moral of a war story isn't supposed to be easily understandable. The ending isn't supposed to be uplifting, and not everyone (or no one) gets what they want in the end. Three Kings, I would say is not a true war story because they simply go against everything that Tim O'Brien s way of a true war story. In the end, the soldiers don't get in trouble for sneaking out and going AWOL. They, unrealistically give away all the gold, and the people they rescued go off to live their lives happily. This didn't portray a true war story to me at all.

#Basedonatruestory

Three Kings is in fact a true war story for many reasons. The movie is unbelievable which is one of the characteristics of a true war story. The story started off with a party and the soldiers having fun celebrating a victory. When you usually think of war you don't see parties. Also, there was so much gold just lying around in the country. There wouldn't just be gold lying around because if there was there would be more people going after it. Another characteristic of a true war story is that it makes you uncomfortable. Many parts in the move mad me uncomfortable, there was the killing of the man's wife, and Troy being tortured and forced to drink oil. These scenes in the movie showed how things went down in that country. The story also was very obscene and evil. They used so much foul language, and had sex with women during the movie. It gave realistic details and scenes and showed many examples of Tim O'Brein characteristics of a true war story, that's why its an true war story.

Is Three Kings a True War Story or not?

Three Kings is a true war story and it is not a true war story. It is a true war story because it is unsettling and unbelievable at some points. For example, when Troy Barlow gets shot in the chest and the movie shows you where the bullet went and the other soldiers saving him. It also makes you feel uncomfortable because there are parts when innocent people get tortured and killed. There is a point where Troy gets taken prisoner and is forced to drink oil. However, it isn’t a true war story because it has a happy ending with a lot of people getting to live a happy life. Also in the beginning, the soldiers seemed to not know what to do. Then a little later on, the American soldiers went to the rebels camp and there was music playing and the rebels were having a good time.

Based On A False Story

Three Kings is not a true war story. According to Tim O’Brien a true war story has no morals, this movie shows how the moral of this story was money is less important than people’s lives. The American soldiers gave up their gold for the refugees to cross the border. A true war story doesn't have morals. Also, Tim O’Brien says a true war story isn't uplifting or has a happy ending. The end of this movie showed the soldiers living normal happy lives after they were let go. In a true war story a soldier would be traumatized from the all the death they experienced. The soldiers at the end looked like the war didn't affect them at all, the stories didn't stick with them.