Hollywood was complicit in justifying the Vietnam War and in contributing to the fantasy that it was no more than a war against Communist peasants that the Americans could easily win. The Auteur’s special effects reinforce the false belief that superior fire power, if properly used, could suffice in winning a war. He believes, however, that he’s offering a balanced view in depicting the Americans’ willingness to destroy a cemetery in revenge, but it’s unlikely that the audience will see this action as unjust in relation to previous scenes of murder, rape, and torture at the hands of the Viet Cong.