Review(s): DVD Born on the Fourth of July (Special Edition)
"People say that if you don't love America, then get the hell out. Well, I love America."
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. During his time in Vietnam, Kovic sees the true nature of war. His platoon mistakenly fires upon a town where the enemy is supposedly hiding; however, they end up killing women and children. During the confusion that follows, Kovic accidentally shoots a fellow soldier and his guilt would encompass him for years to come. But when Kovic himself is wounded in a field, he returns home paralyzed from the waist down, 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 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.
When asked why he wanted to make another film about Vietnam after the success of "Platoon", Oliver Stone is quoted as saying, "There was another war waiting for the soldiers when they returned home." Indeed, he was right. "Born on the Fourth of July" follows Kovic's account of his experiences in Vietnam and the indifferent nation that he returned to. When Kovic returns to his home from the hospital, he realizes that the world has changed. People protest the war, sometimes protesting against the soldiers themselves. Before the war, Ron was a much simpler character. He knew what everything was about, he knew his role in the world, and he knew his duty to his country. Late in the film, Ron will say to his friend Charlie (Willem Dafoe) "Do you remember when things made sense?" When we see Kovic in the final sequences of the film, he has become an eloquent and persuasive critic of the war, producing facts to support his case that the audience is not familiar with. The film shows, if you will, the "spiritual" change in Ron Kovic, how the war changed him, almost killed him, almost drove him mad, but in the end taught him about true patriotism. [filmfactsman]
Apparently I'm the minority - I didn't like it.
To say that Cruise and Stone are seasoned is an understatement, so I expected this to be a classic that I had been missing for the last 15 years. Well, not really.
This film was really exhausting for me. I thought it was too long, and I started to lose interest about 90 minutes in. It actually took two sittings for me to be able to finish it. The performance that Cruise offers is outstanding, but the not-so-subtle political narrative really struck me as routine and very predictable for Hollywood.
The film skips a large portion toward the end in which Cruise emerges as a notable public speaker, but it isn't explained how or why. The film concludes, framing his story as a triumph of character not too dissimilar from Forrest Gump. I wish I had enjoyed it more.
Top Gun and The Color of Money remain my choice Cruise films from the 80's.
Amazing...
Good movies entertain. They make you laugh and cry. Great movies leave a mark on you. You think about the movie, what it means, and you talk about it for days. It changes your perception of things on many levels. This is one those movies. I am still in awe of the movie that I have watched maybe 6 times. Oliver Stone and Tom Cruise have brought a brilliant story about the war to life.
First of, this is not exactly a war movie, but it revolves around a war. It shows the effects of the war to the people who were in it and the general public who have no idea what exactly is going on. This is a story of Ron Kovic, an all-American kid from Long Island. He is full of passion for his country and he believes in serving his country, not caring whether he dies in the process. He eagerly enrolls in the Marine Corp and before he knows it, he is sent to Vietnam fighting in the front line. Some things happen there that leaves a huge impact on Ron and also he was paralyzed from a battle with the communists. He finds himself in a hospital and they have to amputate his legs. He then returns home to find that not everyone sees eye to eye on the war situation in Vietnam, many look at him with embarassment and repulse. In an instant, he had gone from hero to zero.
What really grabbed me about this movie was the story. It doesn't show the war in detail, but more what the war does to it's soldiers and the people involved. It's amazing how they show things from an individual's point of view. It shows the terrible effects of war that you just cannot watch on CNN. Through this movie, it opened my eyes that wars do not just leave towns/cities in destruction or leave people killed...it also effects the people who survived. The trauma and the pain they go through. It's hard to just pick up where you left. And yeah, everyone will be there when things are going well, but who'll be left when things go awry? When you lose your legs and need nursing?
I have to say, kudos to Cruise for giving an Oscar-worthy performance. I honestly felt he deserved the statuette for this role. It's hard to imagine anyone else pulling of the part as perfectly as he did. From humble and innocent beginnings, to a torn and desperate man left scarred for life. You can feel the emotion he's going through all the way. It's not hard to imagine yourself doing the same if you were in his shoes. This role defined Tom Cruise as an actor, and he has definitely earned a place in my book as one of the best actors around. The movie also has a slew of talented actors but most appear in brief sequences but due to Cruise's brilliant performance, it doesn't really matter.
Oliver Stone is one of the great directors of our time (other than Alexander) so his direction of this movie is no surprise, it's practically flawless. He does it so well, each scene is classic and invokes emotion that movies rarely create. And the score of the movie by John Williams is also fantastic. The music that appears in the parade earlier on in the movie, when the war veterans are marching by with broken legs and arms...kinda like a preview of things to come, brilliant!
This movie will be remembered for a long time and it really makes you sad that wars are still going on around the world. You wish that those people could watch movies like this and realize that it destroys something more than nations or buildings, it destroys the very essence of life. To quote from Ron Kovic, "People say that if you don't love America, then get the hell out. Well, I love America". If you haven't watched this movie, you are missing something important in American cinema.
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