A Few Good Men

I. Brief summary of film: This film discusses the murder of the soldier William Santiago that had occurred at a U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The two marines, Louden Downey and Lance Dawson were accused of his murder by stuffing a rag that had lactic acidosis poison into Santiago's mouth which led shortly to his death from respiratory complications. The Navy lawyer Daniel Kaffee and Commander Joanne Galloway were assigned to defend these two marines. Kaffee was generally assigned to this case because he requests plea bargain for his clients rather than bringing them to trial because this case was not taken too seriously. However, Commander Galloway thought this case should be taken to court because there is more to this case. As they investigated, Kaffee and Galloway found out that the two marines were ordered from Lt. Jonathan Kendrick and Nathan Jessep to follow the "Code Red" since Santiago had violated their orders of silence and threatened to inform higher authority that Dawson opened fire on a Cuban lookout tower. Santiago wanted to be transferred because he had difficult time training in such hot weather and would always be nauseated and dizzy. He went above his superiors to bargain for a transfer in exchange for the name of who fired illegal shots toward the Cuban side of the island. The transfer request was seen by Kendrick, Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson and Jessep. Markinson believed that Santiago should be transferred immediately for safety reasons before the request gets out, but Jessep says that this would set a bad precedent which could lead to a surrender of the base. After Santiago's death, Markinson signs a release document that showed his approval of his transfer. However, he later tells Kaffee that Jessep never wanted Santiago to be transferred and that he wanted him to be professionally trained. After he confesses, Markinson commits suicidal. At the last trial, Kaffee brings in Jessep and makes him testifies that he had ordered for Code Red against Santiago. Jessep was convicted of a criminal crime and the two marines had been released but they had lost their honorability of being Marine Corps.

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