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Review: Born on the 4th of July

By Dave Curry and Barry Romo

By Dave Curry & Barry Romo
VVAW National Office

Seeing a vet in a wheelchair is a VVAW action was not unusual. In August, 1972 outside the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami, three bets in wheelchairs were collectively selected to serve as spokespersons for the rest of us. Their attempt to confront confident candidate for re-election Richard Nixon in his hotel was to serve as a test run for these three who would later foray into the Republican Convention itself. While one of these three, Ron Kovic, never got his face-to-face with Nixon, he permanently gained a place in the memories of us who shared those emotion-charged days. Perhaps, it was his appearance that made the memory of Kovic in Miami so unforgettable. The long hair and Marine uniform only complemented that face so marked by pain and emotion. His every move betrayed an uncontrollable intensity, concern, and anger. Oliver Stone's creation of Ron Kovic's Born on the Fourth of July on the screen evokes that same kind of emotion, intensity, and pain.

Kovic's life as a child, adolescent, and young adult are effectively presented in a collision of symbols, nostalgia, and promise for the future. Just enough confusion is portrayed to make the transition to Kovic as marine in combat in Vietnam easily believable. The realism of Vietnam combat scenes often with the South China Sea is an almost surrealistic backdrop is especially noteworthy. Brutal mistakes in combat initiate a tragic erosion of Kovic's idealism. Kovic's psychological pain is expertly captures by Stone in two scenes that are drawn upon again and again as illustration of the depth of the kinds of personal scars that so many veterans carry with them. Tom Cruise is masterful in his ability to move his character through level upon level of personal hell without driving the viewer form the theatre. Only Cruise's sense of the energy and frustrated hopes and ambitions of the disabled veteran makes his acting achievement possible. The VA hospital scenes defy description and stand as testament to what Vietnam veterans endured at the hands of the country they thought they were serving.

Unfortunately, all negative characters on the VA staff are depicted in the film by Black actors. In real life, the abuse came from all nationalities.

While Ron Kovic's personal growth and struggle are uniquely individualistic, they parallel the experiences of other Vietnam veterans. Born on the Fourth of July shows an America in the latter years of the Vietnam War that is seldom portrayed. Anti-war vets pushed away by a public that didn't want to see us. Vietnam veterans beaten by the police. When Stone has the vet pushing Kovic's chair in the convention hall turn out to be an undercover agent, he artistically reminds us of a veterans' movement that has been infiltrated and abused by a legion of undercover agents for over twenty years. The image of Republicans—not anti-war demonstrators—splitting on Vietnam veterans is one that many of know to be true and one that we hope will stick in the minds of the American public.

This brings us to what is missing in the movie version of Born on the Fourth of July. For all its vivid imagery, there is a general absence of detail when it comes to political growth and development. The movie Ron Kovic is suddenly transported to the Last Patrol's arrival in Miami. In the book, the emergence of Kovic's conscience and focus are more a purposeful process. He goes to demonstrations first as observer, then as participant. Fellowship with other veterans in VVAW plays an important healing role for the book Kovic. For this reason, we recommend the movie in the company of the original book.