charlottenax.blogg.se

Returning home to his parents (a wonderful Raymond J. Soon after, Ron is paralyzed by an enemy bullet, sent to a bleak veterans' hospital for treatment, where he comes to terms with a life he will no longer have due to his injury. After some time on duty, Ron has witnessed the true horrors of war, finding his conscience put to test when he can't take full responsibility for the friendly fire shooting of a fellow Marine. Setting aside his interests in Donna (Kyra Sedgwick), his high school crush, for early enlistment with the Marines, Ron leaves his idyllic life behind to fight in Vietnam. "Born on the Fourth of July" is an exceptional feature on every level of execution, also displaying a rare sensitivity to Stone that he would spend the rest of his career trying to bury in violence and experimentation.Īs a boy growing up in Massapequa, New York, Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) was raised with an insatiable need to join the armed forces, hoping to fulfill his masculine duty as a front-line protector of America, like his father before him in WWII. He takes his investigation into the heart of war, coming away with an abyssal understanding of the conflicts at home and abroad.

Finding a tale that carried such a singular perspective on the changing face of a bleeding nation, Stone unearthed the basis for what I would consider to be his finest hour as a director, showing such extraordinary command over epic storytelling movement, visual communication, and thespian achievement. Adapted from the autobiography by veteran-turned-activist Ron Kovic, "Born on the Fourth of July" allowed Stone a chance to expand his dissection of this tumultuous era, acquiring a story not necessarily about the horror of the front lines, but the conflict of the troubled soul.

His vision would carry on to movies such as 1987's "Wall Street" and 1988's "Talk Radio," but Stone's interests in the nuances of the Vietnam War was far from sated. In 1989, writer/director Oliver Stone was diligently working on building his filmmaking career after his 1986 effort, the semi-autobiographical "Platoon," was showered with awards and exceptional box office, making the struggling artist a hot commodity. Born on the Fourth of July Blu-ray Review