10 Films That Were Blatant Propaganda
6. Act Of Valor
Anyone who has ever experienced a recruitment drive for the armed services knows what it's like to watch Act of Valor, a hard sell posing as a movie that preaches just how cool it is to be in the Navy SEALS.
But if your intention as a body of the armed services is to show potential enlistees all the excitement and tactical radness of blowing away brown people, then that whole campaign about "hearts and minds" was the exact kind of hogwash everyone saw through initially. The film's plot is somehow lazier, action movie-wise, than both Navy SEALS and Commando.
It all began when Bandito Brothers Productions were tasked with filming a promotional ad for U.S. Navy special boat teams and saw the potential of having access to the real equipment in an action film.
The Navy became aroused and demanded that SEALS participate. Unfortunately, trained seals have better acting skills.
The film makes the same mistake Clint Eastwood's 15:17 to Paris did, but where that film utilized unsuspecting heroes who were forced into the unthinkable, at least suggesting their reactions had a modicum of genuine emotion behind them, Act of Valor is all flexing muscles, all the time.
It's jingoistic, uncomfortable, poorly acted and its the kind of chest-beating America should probably table for now. The Navy has sanctioned this as a recruitment film, so it's fair game to criticize its technique.