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Films that Promote Peace & Nonviolence |
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Films that Promote Peace & Nonviolence |
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The second of three films by co-writer/director Oliver
Stone to explore the effects of the Vietnam War (Platoon
and Heaven
and Earth are the others), Born On The Fourth Of July tells the
true story of Ron
Kovic (Tom
Cruise), a patriotic, All-American small town athlete who shocks his family
by enlisting with the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he is overseas,
however,
Kovic's gung-ho enthusiasm turns to horror and confusion when he
accidentally kills one of his own men in a firefight. His downfall is furthered
by a bullet wound that leaves him paralyzed from the chest down. He returns
home, spends an appalling, nightmarish stint in a veterans' hospital, and
follows an increasingly disillusioned and fragmented path that ultimately leaves
him drunk and dissolute in Mexico. However, Kovic somehow turns himself around
and pulls his life together, becoming an outspoken anti-war activist in the
process. The film is long but emotionally powerful; many consider it Stone's
best work and Cruise's best performance. Both were nominated for Oscars, as was
the film itself, but only Stone, who co-wrote the film with Kovic from the
latter's book, won for Best Director. Don Kaye
TV
Guide Review: Oliver Stone (PLATOON) returns to the Vietnam War era but here
the focus is primarily on the homefront and the aftershocks of war. Ambitious
matinee idol Tom Cruise stars in a showy change-of-pace characterization as Ron
Kovic in the autobiographical story of a gung ho young man who went proudly off
to Vietnam, came back home in a wheelchair, and, after a traumatic interval,
became a high profile antiwar activist.
The film begins with a depiction of Kovic's youth in Massapequa, New York, where he is raised to be a deeply patriotic, God-fearing, macho all-American athlete. As such, he eagerly enlists in the Marines and ships off to Vietnam, convinced of the justness of the American cause. He becomes increasingly confused and disoriented after he accidentally kills one of his own men in a firefight. He later receives a bullet wound that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Back in the home of his family which no longer understands him, he degenerates into a drunken, self-pitying dropout. After a dissolute sequence in Mexico, he somehow gets a grip on himself, confronts his changed feelings about his life and his country, and becomes an antiwar activist, thereby regaining his self-respect.
Stone's film is undeniably emotionally powerful but problematic because it lingers on the pathos of Kovic's condition while skirting the less visually dramatic aspects of the character. Kovic clearly undergoes a political conversion but it is never dealt with directly--he changes during a fadeout. The effect is as unintentionally jarring as if a reel of the film were missing. The critique of masculinity is far more thoughtful and compelling than the vague ruminations about war. Nonetheless Cruise's impassioned performance as Kovic is an impressive accomplishment.
Wide
Screen / Dolby 5.1
