History Film / CourageUnderFire

* TheRashomon: Walden's entire downed helicopter crew survived except for her, and all give different accounts of what she was like. Ilario sings her praises, while Monfriez calls her a coward who collapsed under pressure. Altameyer is dying of cancer and seems to become despondent whenever the topic is even brought up, and Rady was shot in the head and unconcscious the entire time. By the end, [[spoiler: Ilario tells Serling the real story, that Montfriez and Altameyer got scared and rebelled against Walden's authority when she refused to leave Rady behind. Ilario timdily sided with them, leading to a standoff between Walden and Montfriez when she demanded his weapon. Walden then shot an approaching Iraqi soldier only for Montfriez to think she was shooting at him and shoot her in the stomach. When rescue arrived, the injured Walden held back the Iraqis on her own while the three escaped with Rady, assuming they would come back for her. But Montfriez told the rescue party she was dead, abandoning the captain to her fate to avoid a court-martial, which lead to the whole crash site (and presumably Walden) being napalmed. Altameyer was wounded and could not protest, while Ilario was too afraid to. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone The three men were subsequently traumatized by guilt to varying degrees.]]]]

* TheRashomon

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: When Montfriez chews out a soldier for leaving a comrade behind behind, it's unclear if it's [[spoiler: hypocrisy or guilt.]]

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: Walden makes it crystal clear to Ilario (the only non-incapacitated crew member who's still on her side by that point) that she plans to court-marshall him along with the others when they are rescued for going against her authority. Needlessly alienating the one ally she had in the middle of a dangerous combat situation essentially seals her fate, as when Montfriez reports her dead, Illario is too afraid of being sent to the stockade to disagree with him.]]

* TheSquadette: Walden. Justified as she's actually a Medical helicopter pilot**, but the plot revolves around her having to take this role for her crew when they're shot down.
** No, she's not. WTHCastingAgency: Creator/MarkKermode.

* TheAtoner: Serling

* UsefulNotes/GulfWar

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Subverted; Monfriez, a [[DrillSergeantNasty drill sergeant]], yells at a trainee about leaving a comrade who was tangled in barbed wire behind. We later learn, however, that [[spoiler: he'd done just that to his wounded commanding officer after she'd threatened to court martial him]].

-->"It doesn't matter if I'm on this inquiry or not, it doesn't matter if I'm in this Army or not! I'm gonna find out the truth, I guarantee!"

* TrappedBehindEnemyLines

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary / ArtisticLicenseAwards: Captain Walden would actually have been the second woman to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor for courage under fire. The first was Doctor (Captain) Mary Edwards Walker, who earned the award for her refusal to stop treating patients and evacuate when her field hospital was shelled by Confederate artillery during the US Civil War. That's 135 years prior to when this film is set. On the other hand, Walden would have been the first to receive the Medal of Honor for actually taking part in combat, plus the only Medal of Honor recipient for Desert Storm.

* TheSquadette: Walden. Justified as she's actually a Medical helicopter pilot, but the plot revolves around her having to take this role for her crew when they're shot down.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Captain Walden would actually have been the second woman to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor for courage under fire. The first was Doctor (Captain) Mary Edwards Walker, who earned the award for her refusal to stop treating patients and evacuate when her field hospital was shelled by Confederate artillery during the US Civil War. That's 135 years prior to when this film is set. On the other hand, Walden would have been the first to receive the Medal of Honor for actually taking part in combat, plus the only Medal of Honor recipient for Desert Storm.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Captain Walden would actually have been the second woman to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor for courage under fire. The first was Doctor (Captain) Mary Edwards Walker, who earned the award for her refusal to stop treating patients and evacuate when her field hospital was shelled by Confederate artillery during the US Civil War. That's 135 years prior to when this film is set.On the hand Walden would have been the first to receive the Medal of Honor for actually taking part in combat.Plus the only Medal of Honor recipient for Desert Storm.

* HonorBeforeReason: Serling wants the committee that's investigating the incident where he accidentally fired on another of his tanks to give a real evaluation rather than just sweep it under the table[[note]]His reasons have little to do with honor, however: he's trying to make sure that he was justified in what he did, and that Boylar's death, while regretable, was not actually his fault, in an attempt to deal with his guilt[[/note]]. He's also determined to investigate Walden's case thoroughly and honestly, rather than just creating a good PR story, even after his CO removes him from the assignment.

* OhCrap: Serling in the opening battle. **"Cease fire! Cease fire! You just lit up a friendly!"**

-->"It doesn't matter if I'm on this inquiry or not, it doesn't matter if I'm in this Army or not. I'm gonna find out the truth, I guarantee."

* YanksWithTanks: Quite literally, given the tank battle that starts off the film.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Captain Walden would actually have been the second woman to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor for courage under fire. The first was Doctor (Captain) Mary Edwards Walker, who earned the award for her refusal to stop treating patients and evacuate when her field hospital was shelled by Confederate artillery during the US Civil War. That's 135 years prior to when this film is set.

* HonorBeforeReason: Serling wants the committee that's investigating the incident where he accidentally fired on another of his tanks to give a real evaluation rather than just sweep it under the table. He's also determined to investigate Walden's case thoroughly and honestly, rather than just creating a good PR story, even after his CO removes him from the assignment.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Captain Walden would actually have been the second woman to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor for courage under fire. The first was Doctor Mary Edwards Walker, who earned the award for her refusal to stop treating patients and evacuate when her field hospital was shelled by Confederate artillery.

* BackedByThePentagon: It wasn't due to the subject matter. This led to the issue with the tanks used in the beginning of the film being mock ups.

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/MattDamon lost 40 pounds for his role, causing his health to become so frail he had to be put under medical supervision.

Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Washington) is tortured by an incident he was involved in during combat in the GulfWar. He was an M1 Abrams tank battalion commander who, during the nighttime confusion of Iraqi tanks infiltrating his unit's lines, gave the order to fire, thereby destroying one of his own tanks and killing his friend Captain Boylar. Out of remorse, he has resigned himself to a desk job.

* GulfWar

* DyeingForYourArt: MattDamon lost 40 pounds for his role, causing his health to become so frail he had to be put under medical supervision.

* DyingForYourArt: MattDamon lost 40 pounds for his role, causing his health to become so frail he had to be put under medical supervision.

* GoodLookingPrivates: Washington and Ryan's characters, of course. The other soldiers under Walden's command include Lou Diamond Phillips, a young Matt Damon, and Seth Gilliam. Although Matt Damon's character in the present of the timeline could be considered a mild subversion as he's noticeably pale and gaunt [[spoiler:due to having become a drug addict]].