A Movie Well Worth Watching

Born On The Fourth of July

Published on May 21, 2005 By dabe In Politics

Tonight at 8:00 pm ET on PAX TV they are airing this award-winning 1989 Oliver Stone film. If you have not previously seen it, it's a great movie. If you do not get cable TV, then I recommend that you rent it. There have been many parallels drawn between Viet Nam and Iraq, that I think this is a very relevant movie today. Interesting that it's PAX that is airing it.

Tom Cruise, in what I consider to be his masterpiece performance, plays Ron Kovic, a disabled Viet Nam veteran who becomes an activist against the Viet Nam war. When I first saw the movie, I was dating a VietNam vet, a medical corpman, who was also adamantly anti war. He felt it his "obligation" to see it. Shortly after the movie began, within the opening scenes, my friend went into a siezure. The horrors just caused him to "zone out".

The reason I raise this is because I am sure that movies like this will be made not in the very distant future that will portray similar antiwar sentiment in a fictional way, but likely with as much impact as this great movie. Kovic was a war hero. In my mind, what made him the hero was that he came home and expressed his concience and sentiment against a wrongful war. He is a hero in every sense of the word. Today, Mr. Kovic is an accomplished author and painter. He continues to work for peace.

I am the living death
the memorial day on wheels
I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy
your John Wayne come home
your fourth of July firecracker
exploding in the grave
-----------------------Ron Kovic, 1976

Comments

ParaTed2k

on May 21, 2005

Is this a joke Dabe?

This was the "true" story that was one lie after the other. The best title for this film would be "Born on the Fourth of You Lie"

I'll admit that the acting, cinematography and other technical aspects were great (I agree, Tom Cruise outdid himself with this one). But it was so full of lies that even the hyper-liberal Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had to put their love affair with Oliver Stone aside and deny him the Best Picture Award they wanted so badly to give him for it.

Yes, Ron Kovic was a war hero, and became a hero in his own right to the anti war crowd. However, since he also had a huge part in the making of this movie, he also knew that the false scenes were lies.

If people want to see a movie just for a moving experience, mixed with funny parts and great acting, then I agree, it is worth seeing. Just remember, this is a work of fiction designed as propaganda.

Lies: (Spoiler Alert)

When Ron Kovic thought he had shot the troop from Georgia, he did go to his superiors, there was an investigation, but when the surgeons found that it wasn't a round from a US weapon, Ron Kovic was cleared of fratricide. There was no trip to Georgia where Ron Kovic met with the dead troop's parents seeking forgiveness for his tormented soul.

While Ron Kovic did appear at the Republican National Convention and he was booed, he was not mistreated by the conventioners and nothing was thrown at him while leaving in his wheelchair.

It's sad, with Oliver Stone's experiences in Vietnam, and his great talent as a director, he could have made films that dispelled the myths perpetuated by both the far right and the far left about the Vietnam war. Instead, he chose to document himself as just another propagandist and liar. But still a great film maker.

What is it about Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic and John Kerry that makes them want us to believe that every American in Vietnam was a blood-thirsty, drug abusing war criminal. Perhaps, instead of trying to help those of us who weren't there understand what the average troop went through, they would rather salve their own consciences by trying to convince us that the rest of the Americans were as guilty as themselves.

Island Dog

on May 22, 2005

What is it about Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic and John Kerry that makes them want us to believe that every American in Vietnam was a blood-thirsty, drug abusing war criminal.

Because they are liberals?

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