(VIDEO) "Born On The Fourth Of July" (9/10)

[Brock Landers]

"Born On The Fourth Of July" - A Brock Landers Overview of one of Brock Landers' favorite flicks from Oliver Stone (9/10)

"Born On The Fourth Of July" starts strong and finishes strong, but is strong always a good thing? I mean, I love this film and all of its flourishes of greatness, but found Stone's cynicism to be overdone at times. The first hour or so is great filmmaking, plain and simple, I mean, Stone is a goddamned marvel of modern science at times. It is a great American tale…the story of a young man from the working classes who wholeheartedly believes in the patriotic myths of his country and decides to join up to do his part…the end result being that he comes back in parts, the top part alive, the bottom part dead. We are left with the haunting anti-war image of a boy turned man who was used up and spat out by his country, and in this way, Oliver Stone's film does justice to the story of many who have suffered for ideals and beliefs…

The film works on the principle of contradiction…among the pleasing delusions of life before war, the brutal trauma of war and the disturbing procedure of adapting after war…all stages being connected to the bullet that shatters the heroes spine. Oliver Stone's camera is both poetic and sweeping…It surges and twists in and around the life of Ron Kovic, of Massapequa, New York, who is brought up on cliché patriotism. We have family, sports, church and war…all the things that make for an unfaltering American childhood. The boy who creeps through the forests of the American suburbs with a toy gun and a plastic helmet…only to end up reenacting the same scenario for real in the rice paddies of Vietnam not so many years later…

Oliver Stone has embraced the visual terminology of the romantic epic and made it his own. Stone loves sweeping shots almost as much as tracking shots…his themes of motion being symbolic references… using slow motion to prolong moments of memorable passion. The cinematography chosen to find charming innocence in such American rituals as prom night, wrestling matches, hanging out with your buddies in the cafeteria and first kisses. Tom Cruise, playing Ron Kovic, has just the right bearing, sense of enthusiasm and hidden contradiction to portray a young man who believes in God and country, but not quite in himself…dig?

While Kovic's intentions are idyllic, Stone's are more ironic… the icons of faith and patriotism…the gung-ho pitch of a masculine Marine recruiting sergeant (Tom Berenger)…the boisterous instigation of Kovic's unyielding mother. We, the audience notice all of this, but Cruise's Kovic doesn't until it's too late and he's carrying an M-14 as a Marine platoon sergeant on his second tour of duty in 'Nam.

In my mind, there is no better director than Stone when it comes to recreating the chaos of war…in particular Vietnam (Note: he has been there as both a grunt and a filmmaker). Stone takes us directly into the platoon-level pandemonium and messiness of battle by recreating moments… when Kovic and his squad, in a firefight, throw rounds into a hooch, then enter to find dead women and children… when Kovic hits a target on the crest line who turns out to be one of his own men... and when Kovic himself receives his spine shot. The aftereffect is revolting to say the least. Stone takes us on an intense experience through paraplegic culture, the everyday ordeals and tortured memories of being whole once more, in particular below the waist. Kovic returns home from the hospital to find his parents uneasy in his presence, his brothers detached and his culture unsympathetic and even ashamed about the war and those that came home from it. It seems to be all about seduction and abandonment…

After a recent viewing of this film, I was once again amazed by Tom Cruise…he's brilliant and tragic…bursting with basic integrity and stubborn persistence about doing the right thing, if only he can figure out what it is. Cruise is what makes "Born On The Fourth Of July" work…and work well…

[PackBacker]

Couldn't have said it better myself Brock. This is my favorite Stone film. A moving, poetic, and tragic look at war and its aftermath as well as the delusions/illusions we hold about it.

[JoBlo]

<moderator bump>

[PackBacker]

Was going to put up my own review again and found this. Incredible review of an incredible film. I can't add anything else so I'll just bump this one to the top and see if anyone else wants to comment...

[Brock Landers]

Thanks PackBacker... I just re-watched this flick the other day, and it always makes me glad to be a moviefan. Cruise and the story always get to me, emotionally, around the time he comes back from Mexico and his stint with Dafoe. Also the early on stuff with Kovic and his high school life are pretty moving as well, especially considering when he gets thrust into the war scenarios, and the confusion of the time and place that was Vietnam... [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

[Ebert]

I agree Brock!

The film is one of the best of the 1980's.It's a good study of Vietnam and Ron Kovic.

It starts strong and finishes strong.

9/10

TWO THUMBS UP

[mishkin27]

While I agree that this movie was a decent portraial of a man becoming dissenchanted with his country, I believe that "The Deer Hunter" is better. For some reason I found it hard to feel sorry for the Tom Cruise character because he treated others so harshly. Perhaps that is how Kovic acted himself, but I didnt feel that he was fighting so much for the good of the county, but out of contempt for others more fortunate. The charaters in "The Deer Hunter" managed to keep themselves together despite their tragic losses (except for the Christopher Walken character). And there isnt much america bashing in it either [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
I prefer Oliver Stone's "Platoon" over his Born on the "Fourth of July."

[This message has been edited by mishkin27 (edited 07-14-2001).]