Southern Comfort

Plot - A squad of National Guardsmen are on a weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamps when things go horribly wrong. Crossing the path of some local Cajun poachers, the reckless actions of the men infuriate the poachers to such an extent that they shoot and kill the squad's leader, Staff Sergeant Poole. This initiates a war between the two parties that continues to escalate, particularly once the soldiers have found and captured one of the poachers. Finding themselves under fire from all directions by their near-invisible enemy, the men begin to crumble under the pressure and turn upon one another. Only by retaining their sanity will any of them stand a chance of getting out of the swamp alive.

Set in the backwoods of America's Deep South, and concerning a group of individuals being hunted by the local inhabitants, it seems that the most natural reference point for this film should be John Boorman's 70s classic, Deliverance. In cinematic terms however I actually think that the film's closest cousin may well be First Blood; admittedly with a strong dash of Deliverance thrown in for good measure. Just as was the case with the Stallone classic, which would be released the following year, Southern Comfort is a film which can be viewed and enjoyed on two different levels. On the one hand you can enjoy this film on the level that you can enjoy just about every Walter Hill film; as a purely kick-ass action film. Go further than that though and just like First Blood, hidden underneath its macho façade the film really acts as an allegorical tale for the Vietnam War. Beyond the obvious geographical similarities offered up by Louisiana's forest and swamps it really is like the entire conflict boiled down and summed up in a nutshell.

At the core of the film there is a platoon of soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard. The patrol may only consist of 9 men but they really do act as a small scale representation of the half a million US soldiers who were deployed to Vietnam between the years of 1965 and 1972. Led by Peter Coyote's Staff Sergeant Poole, the men are completely out of their element. Unruly and undisciplined, the majority of the men more closely resemble frat boys than soldiers. And when the situation escalates they are completely unprepared to deal with the fallout. As they find themselves heading further and further into the bayou swamps, they find themselves more and more out of their depth. They find themselves lost in an unfamiliar location where the knowledge that the locals possess of the area places the soldiers at a great disadvantage. It's obviously not much of a stretch to see the similarities to America's doomed campaign. More than any other war the conflict in Vietnam was one populated by the very young. While it's a claim disputed by some, the average age of an American soldier during that war was just 19 years of age. These were mere kids just out of high school; they were ill-equipped, unprepared and had no business being involved in such an undertaking. There is a moment just before he is gunned down where one of the young soldiers breaks down crying, yelling out that “I didn't do anything wrong...I'm not supposed to be here...I'm not supposed to be here!” As soon as he said it I couldn't help but wonder how many young men uttered the exact same words over in Vietnam.

One of the most contentious issues of the Vietnam War was whether American forces should even be there in the first place. It was an issue that sparked protests across America. And it's a similar case here. It is the foolish behaviour of the soldiers that sparks the dispute in the first place and it then becomes a question as to what right they have to be there, at least in the eyes of the Cajuns. As one of the poachers informs them, “This is our home and no one going to f*ck with us!” Standing in for the Vietcong soldiers in this instance are this group of Cajun poachers who begin to pick the Guardsmen off one by one. Like the Vietcong their ways and practices are rather alien to the soldiers. Also like the Vietcong, the Cajuns rely on their knowledge of the surroundings to their great advantage as well as employing guerilla tactics to counteract the greater number of soldiers. These tactics include both physical and mental assaults. On one occasion the poachers sick a pack of wild hunting dogs on the soldiers, while later on the soldiers come across the corpses of their fallen comrades strung up to a tree; corpses that the Cajuns have dug up and put on display like some grotesque art installation.

The nature of the film's narrative dictates that Southern Comfort is more about the situation and the men as a group rather than as individuals, and therefore no great depth or growth can really be attributed to the characters by the actors inhabiting the roles. Fortunately however a rather strong cast was assembled for the film, a cast comprising of several fine and noteable character actors. And just about the entire cast do a fine job of crafting a series of strong and macho individuals with considerable intensity, with Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine distinguishing themselves from the pack as the two voices of reason. Fred Ward also impresses as the bully of the group while Peter Coyote makes an impression despite his limited time on screen. Walter Hill uses all of these individual characters to portray the varying effects that war can have upon a man and upon a group dynamic. Some men panic and crumble in such situations, while others completely shut down mentally. Some men resort to their most basest instincts and commit atrocious acts, while others attempt to hold on to both their sanity and humanity and lead those around them. Just as this is true in war so it is true here for these men. We see some of the men go on an unquenchable thirst for revenge after the Cajuns have killed their Staff Sergeant while other men in the platoon attempt to retain a sense of right and obey the military rules. We see some men attempt to take command and help the group while others begin to care only for their own well-being. As time goes on we witness the patrol tear itself apart through rage and fear which sparks infighting and splinters the groups into factions. Alongside the Vietnam allegory the film seems to be a damning indictment of the macho behavior that men often succumb to, particularly in a group dynamic.

Given that the action genre has been Hill's meal-ticket throughout his career it will come as no real surprise that he provides a more than capable hand for the several action sequences that populate the film. They are generally thrilling and immersive scenes, with a sequence where the Cajuns weaponise the very forest itself by felling a series of trees all around the soldiers arguably being the most impressive and striking. More than the action sequences though, I'd say the most impressive aspect of Hill's direction is the wonderful sense of mood and atmosphere that he creates. Consistently shooting in very tight quarters and close in on his actors, the action never emerges out of the dense forest of the swamp into open spaces, ensuring that Southern Comfort is an extremely claustrophobic experience from the first minute to the last. Hill also makes sure to pace the film just right. Films of this nature will often come unstuck by blowing their load early on, delivering big rushes of adrenaline then falling away for a while until the next rush. While Hill does deliver these rushes early and often he keeps the level of intrigue strong throughout, continually turning the screws so that he builds the tension to greater and greater heights all the way until its conclusion. It makes for a nervy and uncomfortable experience. And this is never more true than in its finale. The concluding 20 or so minutes of the film are almost unbearably tense, probably amongst the most tense and suspenseful sequences I've seen in a film for quite some time actually; perhaps even ever. When two of the soldiers are able to escape out of swamp and find their way to a small Cajun shanty town they should be safe. But at no point do you ever get that sense; the feeling of anxiety and paranoia remains. The editing in this stretch is tremendous. The film cuts back and forth breathlessly from images of a wild Cajun party that they find themselves a part of, images of one of the soldiers being stalked by the poachers and harrowing images of two pigs being shot in the head, strung up, skinned and gutted; obviously acting as a possible foreshadowing of their own fate. It's such an intense, torturous sequence which then explodes with bursts of violence.

Aiding him in establishing this atmosphere Hill has the assistance of two very talented collaborators. Beyond the similarities that I have already laid out between the two films Southern Comfort does feature another link to First Blood; they both share the same cinematographer in Andrew Laszlo. And just as he would do the following year for Rambo's first outing, Laszlo impresses immensely and adds so much to the finished product. He wraps the film in a series of gloomy and imposing tones, draping proceeding in a palette of dark greens, greys and browns which builds on the foreboding and ominous atmosphere as well as highlighting the rural, primal landscape in which the soldiers find themselves trapped. Throw in a substantial amount of swirling mist and you've got one unnerving environment where a considerable sense of dread hangs heavy in the air. It's the kind of swampy forest you frequently see in fantasy films. It would have a name like The Dread Woods or The Black Woods and a sign at its entrance warning that death awaits all men who enter here. As strong as Laszlo's work is he is arguably outshone by the film's excellent score; an eerie and haunting creation delivered by guitar legend Ry Cooder, a score infused with a Cajun flavour throughout. It's a score that is made all the more effective by its relatively minimal use. Much of the film unfolds without any music, but instead relies upon the deathly silence and stillness of the bayou to create its menace, with a great soundtrack of natural sounds creating the atmosphere; the squawking of birds, the droning of cicadas and the splashing of boots in the swamp.

Conclusion - Southern Comfort may not have acquired the iconic standing or fanbase that has benefitted either First Blood or Deliverance; taken on its own merits however this is a damn fine film, and one that I would recommend to fans of either of those more well-known efforts. It's an exhilarating action film which morphs into a slice of survival horror, one that has an incredibly stark and menacing atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia. With strong direction, evocative cinematography, a fantastically macabre score and an excellent conclusion this is a film that deserves a much larger following than it currently has. Could become quite the favourite of mine.