Review of Born on the Fourth of July (1989) by Rameshwar N — 22 Jun 2011

A film that sets out to shatter the illusion that is blind patriotism, using the life example of a man named Ron Kovic, who volunteers to fight in the Vietnam War. Kovic, a fit, bright and energetic young American in his late teens, is left a wheelchair-bound paraplegic after being severely wounded in action. He comes to epitomize the misadventure of the US (and Australia) in Vietnam between 1965- 1973. The director, Oliver Stone, does an excellent job of exposing the consequences of secretly corrupt nations abusing the trust of naive citizens; and he shows through this journey how the big picture of grand historical events can lead to the very personal destruction of individual lives. This film omits to hint at the total devastation this war caused to the beautiful and unfortunate Vietnamese people of that era, and focuses on the US experience.

Born of the Fourth of July also gives us a very intimate look in to the psychology of Mr Ron Kovic, the loss of his dreams and his struggles to come to terms with the reality of his situation. The dynamics of his family life is portrayed brilliantly, with inspired acting by Cruise, and Caroline Kava, who plays his mother. Another interesting insight of this film covers male sexuality, as like any man Kovic longs to be loved by a woman, and he cries to his father while intoxicated one night, "...who's going to love me dad? Who's going to love me...?" A poor, tragic wheelchair bound wreck of a human being who cannot make love because of his injuries. The film eventually moves on to Kovic's revival of purpose, as he becomes the voice of opposition to the Vietnam War, and gains national prominence for his admirable stand.

This film is very confronting, and deliberately so. It is also remarkably honest about the real hopes and dreams of young men. I think we must thank Mr Ron Kovic for the honour of allowing us such a personal look in to his life. Born on the Fourth of July is a film that is very likely to offend some viewers with it's candor, but, as I said, it is an honest portrayal of one man's very real ordeal, and he deserves out empathy and understanding, because, if history repeats itself, this will happen again. There may well be men out there from many countries, veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, that are going through similar things to the experience Kovic shares with us here, right now.