Trio of Touching Tales of War, Love in ‘Wall’

Showtime’s Vietnam War memorial of a movie, “The Wall,” delivers chilling images of soldiers killing and being killed in the treacherous verdure of Southeast Asia. But still more powerful are its images of survivors and loved ones today, paying tribute at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington. They kiss the gleaming black granite, run their fingers over the engraved names, take rubbings of names and leave mementos.

Since the wall’s dedication in 1982, more than 35,000 objects have been left there, the movie informs us. In a series of short, fictional stories, it imagines how three of those objects came to be there: a handmade pencil holder, a silver five-pointed star badge and an electric guitar.

The program makes no secret of its intent to rip an emotional response out of you, yet although you can always tell when you’re being set up for a big cry, that doesn’t stop the rush of tears. Take some time to remember the true meaning of Memorial Day by watching it Sunday night at 8.

Written by Scott Abbott, “The Pencil Holder” stars Edward James Olmos as an Army major stationed at a base near Saigon in 1969 with his pubescent son (Trevor Blumas). The story has several unusual twists, and it benefits from young Blumas’ fresh, vulnerable performance when he encounters a wounded soldier (Richard Chevolleau), gives him the pencil holder he had made for his father--and father and son relearn the value of holding on to the ones you love.

“The Badge,” written by Charles Fuller, unfolds in a battlefield, where a lone soldier (Savion Glover, co-creator and Broadway star of “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk”) flees Viet Cong fighters and, in brief respites, thinks of home, where others in the African American community had argued that blacks, dying in disproportionate numbers in Vietnam, shouldn’t be fighting for a country that still discriminated against them. As the Viet Cong, themselves weary and missing their families, close in, the soldier holds on by his wits--and the badge his grandmother had given him for good luck.

“The Player,” written by Patrick Sheane Duncan, focuses on a guitar prodigy and fiercely loyal soldier (Michael DeLorenzo) who finds himself trying to buy a favor from a cynical wheeler-dealer (Frank Whaley) behind the lines--and passes along a lesson in watching out for one another.

The pieces are directed with an eye for detail by Joseph Sargent, but although the stories are inclusive of the ethnicities of the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, they somehow overlook women.

* “The Wall” premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Showtime cable network. The network has rated it TV-14-VL (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14, with advisories for violence and coarse language).