Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) fin

20/07/2014 18:11 par tellurikwaves

Distinctions

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p24

20/07/2014 18:07 par tellurikwaves

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p23

20/07/2014 18:03 par tellurikwaves

An outstanding character piece
10/10
Author: Dirk Eichhorst from Groveland, Florida
12 April 2001

This is one of the few films that successfully takes a character through many subtle but significant incidents that lead to a total change in the character's attitude and feelings. To believably change a person from one attitude to another in the course of a film is a monumental task. So much of it is told in subtext - the emotional undertow of the scene - the dialogue is realistic and tells us exactly how a character feels without having to spoonfeed us.

The scene where Ron returns home for the first time after being paralyzed is one of the best examples of this. The use of the recurring theme by John Williams brings the audience right into the soul of Kovic as he struggles to overcome the guilt of having killed a fellow soldier, his inner need to prove he's a man to his mother, and his struggle with friends who don't see the world the way he does. A superb film. Bravo, Mr. Stone!

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p22

20/07/2014 17:59 par tellurikwaves

Beautiful redemption story with much more to it!
10/10
Author: axismladen from Croatia
26 June 2010

Born On The Fourth Of July is a great movie! One of many masterpieces that are not completely recognized as such! Ronnie Kovic is a young man living in a small town in the time of the Vietnam War! All filled with pride and honor he decides to go to war and fight for his country! The story is basically centered on that point on! War changes his entire life and he must face the fact that he was, as many other's, tricked to go to war and fight against so called '' communism disease ''! The story follows his path of redemption towards accepting that everything he believed in and fought for was not as pure and sacred as he thought! And also about him dealing with some thing's he's done that are his burden ever since!

The movie is directed great, written great and acted great! This is my favorite Oliver Stone movie and this is definitely Tom's greatest performance!!! Tom Cruise was just brilliant and it's a shame he didn't win an Oscar for The Best Leading Role!!! Just as it's a shame that the movie didn't win for The Best Picture and The Best Screenplay!!!Watch this movie!!! It will make you feel a lot better and see thing's much clearly! This is a masterpiece!!!

And to end my comment, i will quote Ron Kovic,

'' I am the living death, a Memorial Day on wheels. I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy, your John Wayne come home, your Fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave. ''

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p21

20/07/2014 17:49 par tellurikwaves

Ron Kovic's arc or the soul of a torn apart America ...
10/10
Author: ElMaruecan82 from France
30 October 2012

A young Ron Kovic is on his father's shoulders, and enjoys the 4th of July parade. Ronnie looks quite dull but he's got a beautiful girlfriend named Donna who offers him an original NY cap. It's Ronnie's birthday, his mother tells him with pride-irradiating eyes: "You're my little Yankee Doodle boy". During a night illuminated by the fireworks, Ron and Donna kiss, a privilege that small boys rarely get at 10, but it's Ronnie, Ronnie who makes his baseball team win and victoriously lifts his pumps in the air, so perfect it's unreal.

There is yet a reason why the opening of "Born on the Fourth of July" possesses this disorienting dream-like aspect, for it's too over-the-top from a director like Oliver Stone not to be deliberate. It starts like a fantasy because it's exactly into this that American values were turned after World War II, the idea that whatever America does is right, and any American boy should be proud to defend his country, to win, to be the best. It echoes General Patton's words: "the very idea of losing is detestable for America". Yet Patton fought in a war that, no matter how devastating it was, was necessary. The Vietnam War was not and now, it's a wound forever carved in America's heart, a stain in its soul, for which Oliver Stone's film works on a cathartic level.

Fittingly "Born on the 4th of July", Ron Kovic incarnates the spiritual destruction the Vietnam War applied on America's youth, before it turned into a generation-defining realization. That realization is the emotional core of the film and it's powerfully carried by Tom Cruise's performance. Cruise's good looks always played a significant part in his films because they helped to build a misleading feeling just to be contradicted by the evolution of his character ("Rain Man", "Jerry Maguire"…). "Born on the Fourth of July" also features an extraordinary evolution, but in terms of acting, it transcends every other performance from Cruise. As Kovic, he personifies the patriotic enthusiasm of a youth that grew in a star-and-stripe clad cradle and its transformation into anger against the system that fooled them.

And the higher Kovic went in the expression of his patriotism, the harder he fell. What is fascinating in Kovic is that he isn't necessarily perfect before the War; he loses at a wrestling game and sobs like a baby under the booing of a heartless crowd. Kovic is so 'Americanised' that losing a game is as upsetting as losing a war. So when the first recruitment's program for the Marine Corps comes to his school, he takes it as a chance to prove his value. Kovic loves his country and will serve it, even if he has to die. The 'trick' is that he didn't explore the eventuality of ending crippled and that's crucial: when a man lives, he's proud of having done his job, when he dies, he's not here to express any regrets, but on a wheelchair, it's another side of the show he's going to discover.

The film's scope is so big that Stone rightfully keeps the essential from each episode of Kovic's life, especially since "Platoon" was eloquent enough about the war. The fight scenes show that GI killed baby and civilians… accidentally but so was it when they killed each other in battles far from the usual epic exaltations. Then, Kovic is shot and spends a long time in the veteran's hospital: one of the film's highlight, an invitation to discover the treatment, crippled soldiers received: the last rites (just in case), bathing in their own filth, incapable to clean themselves, sharing the place with rats. Kovic is told that he can't walk anymore, can't even have children; he endures a rough treatment to prevent amputation. But what he can't stand, more than pain, stink, rats or his disability… is one carer's anti-war comment. His condition didn't earn him any respect or compassion, and the worst is yet to come.

Returning at home, Kovic realizes that life has changed, hippies give him the finger; the American flag is burned instead of being proudly raised in the air. "Love it or leave it!" still shouts Kovic in denial. The attitude spread to his Family, his own brother doesn't believe in the war, and the trip to self-awareness doesn't end here. Wherever he goes, Kovic is confronted to disrespect and carelessness, a friend who didn't believe in the War, is doing well in fast-food business, a WWII veteran reminds him he's got no reason to be angry about, he fought, he lost, and gives him the ultimate insult by calling him a traitor. The anger's burning in Kovic's heart reaches its heart-breaking pinnacle when he wakes up his whole family, submerged by his drunkenness, he -for the first time- understands that this war destroyed him, for nothing, because the very America he fought for, is now acting like an ungrateful bitch.

But the courage of Kovic is not to stand alone in his own blindness. During a trip in a Mexican whorehouse where he encounters veterans living in the same condition, he's left alone with a vet played by Willem Dafoe in the desert, they fight, insult, spit on each other, but it's probably the last step before self-awareness. Symbolizing through his character's arc a real revolution in America's society, Kovic becomes the spokesperson of a whole generation against the war. Not because one shouldn't fight for his country, but because there were no values noble enough to fight in Vietnam, to destroy America's spirit, no matter how supposedly 'evil' Communism was, America was no better in that war. Kovic said that who fought there, and Oliver Stone showed that, who fought there, too.

Intelligent, thought provoking and uncompromising, "Born of the Fourth of July" is one of the most important American films, and one of the best of the 80's.

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p20

20/07/2014 03:08 par tellurikwaves

Simply Amazing...
10/10
Author: nama chakravorty from India
5 July 2010

An adaptation of the best selling autobiography of the same name by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, comes a film of a lifetime. What Oliver Stone achieves in 'Born On The Fourth Of July' is what a Cinema-Devotee like me waits for. A Complete Film and undoubtedly a Classic Biopic! 'Born On The Fourth Of July' is the brave, violent and disturbing biopic of Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. Kovic has had one hell of a life, from being a visionary small-town boy, to a War veteran, to a Paralyzed man, and to a man who wrote his life, his rights and wrongs, without shedding out the minuses. As the film flows, you fall in love with Kovic, you begin to feel for him.

In fact, Stone's intention of making the person a Screen Legend comes true. Stone is at his very best. His Direction is EPIC! He deserved all the Awards and Respect he received for this landmark film! Music by John Williams is legendary! Tom Cruise is amazing. The Screen Icon becomes Ron Kovic, and delivers one of the bravest performances of his career! A special mention for the Magical Willem Dafoe, he is flawless in a brief role. 'Born On The Fourth Of July' is an amazing film in all respects, a Landmark! Two Big Thumbs Up!

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p19

20/07/2014 02:56 par tellurikwaves

War From Liberal Point of View
10/10
Author: Firas Daba
25 February 2014

The movie is based on the real-life story of Ron Kovic (played by Tom Cruise), a decorated Marine who was in his second tour of duty in Vietnam when he was critically injured. Upon his return to the United States, Kovic became a vocal anti-war protester whose military record gave him more credibility than the numerous hippies and college students whom critics lambasted for "dodging" service to their country. Born on the Fourth of July is divided neatly into four pieces.

The first, which transpires entirely in Massapequa, New York between the late 1950s and 1964, traces the childhood of Kovic, who grows up in a fiercely patriot household. His parents are fierce supporters of the country and devout Roman Catholics. Kovic, inspired by a presentation given by a Marine , signs up out of high school and is on his way to Vietnam by December 1965, leaving behind his family and his girlfriend. This segment is filmed by Stone with an abundance of nostalgic elements. The lighting and colors hint at a time- clouded innocence.

The style, which evokes Capra, is overly romantic. Stone is, of course, setting us up. He wants us to buy into this idealized, insulated way of life in order for what comes after to have maximum impact. The "in country" portion of the film is the shortest. It picks up the action in October 1968, when Kovic, now a sergeant and well-respected member of his platoon, is in his second tour of duty. While on patrol, an error in the received intelligence leads to a civilian massacre, and Kovic is shaken. During the retreat, he mistakes one of his men for an enemy and accidentally kills him.

The XO exonerates Kovic, ignoring his claims of "friendly fire," and informs the sergeant that things like this happen in the confusion of battle. Three months later, Kovic is seriously wounded in another engagement - an incident that ends his battlefield involvement in the war. Stone's approach to the fight segments are similar to those in Platoon - short, brutal, and unflinching. He is more interested in showing the bloody, inglorious elements of war as opposed to those promoted in military recruiting films.

Kovic's rehab at the Bronx V.A. hospital is perhaps the most disconcerting episode in the film, depicting as it does the deplorable conditions that existed in the government-run facilities established to treat injured soldiers. Paralyzed from the waist down, Kovic does his best to maintain a positive mental attitude and is obsessive About rehabbing, despite his surroundings. Drugs are rampant in the hospital, rats wander freely and the equipment is old. Eventually, he leaves the hospital and returns to Massapequa, where he is hailed as a hero. The final hour is devoted Kovic's change from war-supporter to rabid anti-war activist.

When Kovic initially returns home, he is still a defender of the action in Vietnam. It's only after attending an anti-war rally that he changes his position. The thing best accomplished by Born on the Fourth of July is its contrasting of the glorious illusion of war as seen from thousands of miles away to the barbarity of it up-close. Kovic's change in perspective becomes the filter through which we view Vietnam. His gradual disillusionment with the government and the military is given weight because of events in his life. He is credible because he has been involved in activities that many pro- war and anti-war activists have seen only from afar.

When Stone made this movie in 1988-89, he was looking back roughly 15 years; the intervening time has served only to sharpen the focus. Nothing about Born on the Fourth of July is dated; it remains an involving tale of innocence lost and of war and its unintended consequences.

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p18

20/07/2014 02:53 par tellurikwaves

It is almost the 4th of July 2005, this movie's important message is applicable to Iraq.
10/10
Author: golem_number1 from Toronto
3 July 2005

I am a Canadian and I grew up during the Vietnam war. In the media, I read and saw it as it happened and also personally knew Vets, C.Os, dodgers, deserters; they all had their reasons for doing what they did and all suffered in their hearts and minds and it nearly tore America apart. The Vietnam war was a tragedy and Oliver Stone's film portrayed it in a very important way which should have made everyone very reluctant to pursue a similar military conflict.

Now, many years after the war in Vietnam, the world is experiencing the war in Iraq (In spite of what Bush says, it's still an ongoing war). The message in Born on the Fourth of July needs to be retold, either by re-releasing the film or newly made to relate to Iraq. Although I am not an American (some of my family are and one of my brothers and his family has emigrated to the U.S.), every day I think about the agony and misery that Americans are going through in Iraq and in the U.S. for a war which is supposed to be about liberation and democracy but has turned out to be otherwise.

I think about the U.S. soldiers and civilians who support them who are endangered, killed, and we must never ignore or forget the psychologically and physically wounded who will have to live with the terrible consequences of their experiences. Born on the Fourth of July resonates into the present.

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p17

19/07/2014 17:09 par tellurikwaves

"Who's gonna love me now.....?"
10/10
Author: fred-houpt from toronto
10 August 2007

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I waited until August 2007 to see this film and I'm sorry I waited so long. Stone's films usually are so strong that when they enter the mass market the ripples are large, his messages often creating feverish backlash. Few are left on the fence and like Michael Moore's films, they are polarizing, entertaining, often jarring and disturbing. Stone is a man who was in Viet Nam and saw it all up close. As such he was well suited to comment on the war and comment he did over several excellent films. Ron Kovic's story was an appropriate addition to Stone's collection of 'Nam films, coming as it did only three years after his seminal "Platoon".

There have been many Vietnam war films made and this film is certainly one of the most moving I've seen. It is always tempting to get drawn into clichés about war, using stereotypes as a replacement for depth in writing and insight. Stone is a fine writer and director. Along with Kovic's own words and experience, this film manages to honor the appropriate focus, which is Kovic's journey into a drama that began as a patriotic desire to do the right thing.

What is remarkable about Kovic's journey is how much he matures in such a short time and how he managed to change his mind about a war that he volunteered to enter. Like so many of his generation, he was initially convinced that Viet Nam was a far flung battle between American style freedom and lifestyles and the oppressive and expanding web of communism. That these ideas were a leftover of the anxieties and illusions of the Cold War was not apparent at that time. In fact one could honestly say that America had not really admitted how lost it was in Indochina until an aged and contrite Robert McNamara recently wrote how his generation of leaders had been completely wrong about Vietnam.

There has not been a more socially divisive war since Vietnam and it's hard to argue that there will be one again. Coming as it did as a huge change in society evolved, the war became the ultimate metaphor for all that was wrong with the American vision. Gone were the halcyon days of the American's as liberators, beloved in lands across the world as World War II ended. Now the nightly news showed atrocities with American soldiers as the perpetrators. Kovic's tour of duty shadowed all of these changes. His treatment by an underfunded and somewhat indifferent veterans hospital only added to the process of disillusionment and bitterness that was to lead him to completely transform his attitudes towards the war.

That he was abused, spat at and beaten by those who would not listen to his anti-war words finalized and crystallized his transformation from soldier to anti-war activist. All of this came at a huge cost to himself. Whoever said Tom Cruise was not a great actor should see this film. Consider that he was all of 27 years old when the film was released and watch how brave his performance was. His ability to travel from starry eyed child of the 50's, his head full of the previous generations glory at bringing liberation to millions, his belief that communists were the evil empire, all the way through purgatory into realizing that there was no truth to this vision. Cruise gives a stupendous and raw performance, holding back nothing, tearing open his emotions to reveal the depth of Kovic's spiral into total despair.

Ah, then there is Willem Dafoe. His character, so completely destroyed by the ravages of what he had done as a soldier, so aflame in self loathing and grief, he can no longer even recognize that "Kovic" is a mirror image. The scene of them spitting on each other, wrestling each other out of their wheelchairs is so tragically upsetting that one wants to avert the eyes to see such pain.

This is a film to watch several more times. If there are finer essays on the loss of dreams, the transformation of America into a frightening military powerhouse, equally as intimidating and dangerous as they themselves feared the Russians were, than I do not know of it. There is much in this film to consider and given our current state of yet another American disaster (Iraq and Afghanistan), a film that has not aged one drop. A triumph for Stone, Kovic, Cruise and Defoe.

Š-DR-BORN ON 4th OF JULY de Oliver Stone (1989) p16

19/07/2014 17:05 par tellurikwaves

Underrated masterpiece
10/10
Author: toddalan-5 from Australia
4 November 2005

This film directed by the great Oliver Stone is masterpiece both Stone and Cruise who is the main character in the film are at the top of there game. Both one of there best work they have ever done. Stone showing America going through conflicts at one of its worst time in recent history is also powerful. Being Australian myself it is easy for my country to relate to it has will being that Australia went through the same ordeal as the US did.

Its starts of with Tom Cruise a young man wanting to go to war to serve his country but comes back disabled and never being able to walk again. The rest of the film is about America soldiers getting back to there home country were people blaming them for the war and other things. Stone one best director but Crusie got robbed at winning a Oscar for his role.