Review of Born on the Fourth of July (1989) by Jack L — 04 Jun 2010

This film is the second in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy after Platoon and before Heaven and Earth.

This film is built around the life of Ron Kovic(Tom Cruise) who like the title implies was born on the 4th of July.

As a young man, he is very patriotic and so decides to join the army and fight against the Red Threat, his mother is very supportive of this decision as are his teachers and his friends(many of whom also join up).

When he leaves he is treated like are hero and is very confident that what he is doing is right.

The film skips his training and most of his combat experiences and so arrives directly at the scene of a battle, during the battle him and his squad open fire on a house only to afterwards discover that it was filled with civilians,the only survivor being a Vietnamese baby.

He is horrified, but before he can save the baby he is ordered to fall back as the Viet Cong launch a counter-attack, during the attacked he is surprised by a man who rushes at him, he shoots him only to discover he was a young American, overcome by feelings of guilt he charges at the enemy and is shot.

He survives but is paralysed from the waist down. Upon returning to the US he is confined in a horrible hospital with negligent staff and appalling conditions which add to his suffering and sense of worthlessness.

Upon returning home he feels out of place in his own family, during the time he was away the people had become weray of the war and he wasn't treated like a hero by everyone.

He cannot come to terms with his disability where he is so he travels to Mexico and descends into a life of sin in the company of other disabled and disturbed Veterans who all complain they were neglected and misunderstood at home because of all they had been through.

Ron pulls through this period of despair and comes to terms with the fact that he is crippled for life, he then goes to see the parents of the US soldier he shot and apologises, they forgive him.

He is now understandably very anti-war, he joins various anti-war groups composed of veterans like himself and.

Campaigns for an end to the war.

This film features the best performance ever of Tom Cruise, he is perfect as the deluded young man in the beginning and his transformation into a haunted,crippled and disillusioned veteran is amazing to watch, the supporting cast is excellent especially his family and of course Willem Defoe.

Oliver Stone's direction was great and very humble, he really gets the best out of Tom Cruise, without being to flashy and all over the place like with Natural Born Killers.

I particularly liked how the combat scene was filmed with a kind of orange overtone.

The soundtrack was nothing very memorable, in fact I don't remember it at all but left no bad impression.

The story was very moving and deals with all kind of issues such as disability, pacifism, and parents putting pressure their children...

Some of the scenes were overstretched in my opinion and the whole mexican episode went on for a bit to long, but some scenes are so incredibly touching ,such as the scene with the parents of the man he shot, that they more than make up for it.

The inability of the veterans to fit into society was very well portrayed(Oliver Stone was a Veteran himself) and so was society's reaction to them.

This film is so realistic ,seeing as Stone was a veteran and Ron Kovic the author of the book which this was based on helped to adapt the screenplay.

Overall this film is a great follow up to the excellent Platoon and is just as powerful but in a different way. Seeing as this film deals with the after effects of war and what it does to those who take part in it.

Highly recommended for Vietnam war film fans or those interested in viewing the trilogy made by Stone.

But if looking for a more combat orientated war film you should watch Platoon.

Cinematography 8/10.

Acting 10/10.

Soundtrack 6/10.

Plot 9/10.

Screenplay 10/10.