On a warm July Fourth evening with fireworks and music, patriotism becomes a numbingly enjoyable experience.

You’re seduced into forgetting what prompted the celebration.

Like a half-million other Washingtonians, my companion and I set up camp on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol Thursday night with wine, cheese and enough provisions to feed a combat platoon. Next to us sat four young men from Arkansas, who used their blanket and the promise of free beer to lure several young ladies to their prized encampment.

Adults hoisted children onto their shoulders. People danced and waved the flag. We cheered each new burst of fireworks.

Then we went home.

There’s a movie coming out on July 12th titled, “Courage Under Fire.”

You want to learn about honor and patriotism — to understand why Americans celebrate July Fourth?

Don’t miss this film.

“Courage Under Fire” won’t attract a fraction of the audience now flocking to the sci-fi blockbuster “Independence Day,” which mixes patriotism with an invasion of aliens from outer space. This one knocks your socks off with special effects, but there’s not a serious thought in the 2 1/2-hour epic. For example, the president of the United States is a decorated fighter pilot who personally helps take out one of the space creatures’ ships.

Give me a break!

I caught “Courage Under Fire” at a sneak preview last week. The movie stars Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. It’s about the Medal of Honor.

Tens of millions of Americans have served under combat conditions. Only 3,394 have received the Medal of Honor, most posthumously. There are only 186 living recipients.

Seventy-six honorees have been Mainers. Joshua L. Chamberlain, whose heroism helped turn the tide at the Battle of Gettysburg, is the best known. The most recent is Master Sgt. Gary Gordon of Lincoln. Gov. Angus King honored Maine’s three living Medal of Honor recipients in an Augusta ceremony on July 2 — former Army Capt. Edward C. Dahlgren of Blaine, retired Army Air Corps Col. Jay Zeamer Jr. of Boothbay Harbor and Army Capt. Lewis L. Millet of Mechanic Falls. Also honored Tuesday was Everett P. Pope of Belgrade, whose Medal of Honor is credited to Massachusetts because that is where he enlisted.

I covered the White House ceremony on May 23, 1994, when President Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to the families of Gary Gordon and Randall Shughart — two members of an Army Ranger team caught in a firefight in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Eighteen U.S. personnel were killed in that battle. The bodies of some were dragged through the streets of the city by a mob.

Three times Gordon and Shughart asked permission to be rapelled from their Black Hawk helicopter into the firefight to help comrades who’d been shot down, even though they knew their chances of survival were bleak. After the third request, they were allowed to hit the ground and fight their way through a maze of buildings to reach their wounded comrades.

Shughart was fatally wounded providing cover fire. Gordon recovered a rifle from the crash site and gave the last five rounds of ammunition to Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, one of the downed helicopter pilots. The Maine native continued the fight until he also was mortally wounded. Durant was taken prisoner and eventually released.

“Courage Under Fire” tells the story of a fictional incident modeled after Gordon and Shughart’s Somalia battle. A U.S. helicopter is downed. Another tries to rescue survivors of the crash but is also shot down. The pilot of the rescue chopper is a woman played by Meg Ryan. She dies helping the survivors of both crews escape. An Army officer played by Denzel Washington is assigned to re-create the battle to determine if Ryan’s character is worthy of being the first woman awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat.

This is a serious film.

It takes you down corridors where there is no black and white. Unlike “Independence Day,” reality remains a close neighbor in the Meg Ryan film.

During the Gulf War, C-SPAN followed Maj. Marie T. Rossi as the 32-year-old Army helicopter pilot made final preparations for the land battle to free Kuwait. Rossi explained how her crew was going to airlift fuel supplies under cover of darkness to a remote desert site well inside Iraq, hours before the battle began. She died when her giant Sea Stallion chopper crashed after striking a microwave tower. Although a tragic combat death, the circumstances did not meet the Medal of Honor’s stipulation that recipients put their lives at risk through voluntary actions, “above and beyond the call of duty.”

In “Courage Under Fire,” Hollywood does a masterful job of weaving grave issues of patriotism, honor, and the politics of political correctness into a fictional story drawing liberally from the real-life heroism of Marie Rossi, Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon.

At the White House ceremony two years ago, President Clinton said Shughart and his wife talked about retiring to a log cabin in Montana after his Army career. Of Gordon, the president said, “He was a gentle father who filled notebooks of stories for his two young children.” The Washington Post said Rossi had recently married a fellow Army helicopter pilot who was stationed in another part of the war zone. The couple planned to start a family after the war.

Lying on our blanket amid the music and fireworks Thursday night, I confess there were no thoughts of past wars or Medal of Honor winners. These somber memories too often are lost in the July Fourth revelry.

— WASHINGTON