Oliver Stone is, for me, the new Robert Altman. After seeing many of Altman's films I decided I didn't like his work until I enjoyed The Long Goodbye and absolutley loved A Prarie Home Companion. I thought I didn't like Stone at all after seeing two of what are purported to be his best films (Platoon and JFK), and what almost universally considered to be his worst (Alexander) but I have a new appreciation for him after seeing Born on the Fourth of July, a biopic about his friend and fellow Vietnam vetran Ron Kovic.
Based on its subject's autobiography (who also co-wrote the script with Stone), the film follows his experinces from 1961 to 1976. Kovic (Tom Cruise) grows up in a devoutly Catholic family in a small town, and decides that the patroitic thing to do is enlist after he graduates from high school. Kovic joins the Marines, guarenteeing that he will be sent to the front lines in Vietnam. On his second tour of duty, he accidently kills Vietnamese civilains and a fellow soldier (Michael Compotaro) and is traumatized with guilt. Later, in a surprise ambush, he is seriously wounded- his genitials are literally blown off, and a bullet pierces his spinal cord, paralizing him from the waste down. After a harrowing stay in an underfunded hospital, Kovic returns home to a hero's welcome, but the demons of the war continue to haunt him, and he gradually realizes the war is wrong, and his life is heading in a terrible direction.
Some who read my review of Platoon may wonder why I prefer this film to that one. The reason is that Platoon merely stated that war is wrong, and this film stars with the observation and goes further with it. It is also about how Kovic begins to discover the war is wrong- only after he is home for years and sees how good people- his brother and ex-girlfriend are both patriatic and anti-war. Born on the Fourth of July is also stronly benefited by Tom Cruise in the best performance of his career. When the movie started, I groaned, thinking Cruise was going to be a victim of his own stardom, but as the film progressed, I just forgot about the actor and saw Ron Kovic.
Both Stone and Cruise are at their absolutle best in the hospital scenes, which is painful to watch, not only because of the men and their embarrisng injuries but because of the decripit conditions they are foreced to stay in. When you compare this material to similer scenes in Coming Home, another Vietnam film, their's no comparison. All of the other actors, most of whom are unknown, are excellent, too.
Where the movie gets into the trouble is still a problem I have with Stone- he often goes over the top. Although he does moderate his tendancy here, many scenes still are too melodramatic to be beleived. An example of this is the scene late in the film where Kovic visits the parents of the soldier he accidentally killed. It thought it seemed fake as I watched it, and I was not surprised when I later learned that much of this subplot is fictional. The movie also goes on a little long and is at times too simplistic, but there are many scenes of real power, and the movie is well worth a look. This is not in the leauge of Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket, but it's right on the next step.
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)