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WATCH: Soldiers fall in love in the jungles of Vietnam in this moving gay war drama

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
Two soldiers, one shirtless, lay on top of one another while sprawled out on the grass.
Image Credit: ‘Love In Coutnry’

The “war movie” is a genre as old as the medium of film itself, but the new drama Love In Country still manages to deliver something unexpected and rare: A war movie about gay men.

Set in Vietnam in 1968 during the early days of the Tet Offensive, it follows a U.S. Army infantry sent on a dangerous “phoenix mission” to kidnap a contact from the Northern Vietnamese Army, a.k.a. the NVA.

Admittedly, it’s not the most romantic of settings, but Love In Country still makes time to explore the relationship of two gay soldiers, Sgt. Ian Alexander (David Garber) and Sgt. John Reese (Michael Southworth).

Talk about finding love in a hopeless place…

Well before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” this was a world where servicemen could be discharged simply for being homosexual, but reports have shown that the Army was so short on personnel during the Vietnam War that some gay men were admitted to serve.

For Alexander and Reese that means they’re expected to keep their sexuality a secret, but that becomes more and more difficult as they begin to fall for one another, and their mutual attraction becomes obvious to their fellow infantrymen.

Further complicating matters is their commanding office, Army Captain John Heinrick (Vincent van Hinte), who is a truly blood-thirsty loose cannon, calling to mind Marlon Brando’s disturbed Colonel Kurtz in the seminal Vietnam drama Apocalypse Now. Driven by his own dangerous impulses, Heinrick doesn’t care who becomes a casualty so long as he completes the mission at hand.

Love In Country is co-written and co-directed by Richard Gayton, who has non-combat military experience during the Vietnam War, and then spent many years working as a Navy psychologist.

Gayton felt compelled to bring this story to life as a way to honor the queer people who have served in the military throughout history, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice for a country that refused to let them live their lives openly.

The independent film quietly dropped on line earlier this year, but just recently became available for rental or purchase through Amazon Prime Video, in addition to Tubi, YouTube, and Google Play.

You can watch the trailer for Love In Country below:

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