Born on the Fourth of July

"Born on the Fourth of July" is a Vietnam War movie based on the book of Ron Kovic and directed by Oliver Stone. To date this is best movie of Tom Cruise I have seen. Infact it won't be an exaggeration to say that this movie is a "One man performance", inspite of a lack of a great story and a complete flat lack lustre performance by all the other characters (infact the other characters virtually don't matter in the story), the movie is extremely good. Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) after finishing his school being driven by patriotism, joins the marine and is sent to Vietnam. After going through all the war horrors he returns back with half his body paralysed. Expecting a great honour back home which he doesn't get, he undergoes a mental collapse. The whole portrait of Ron transforming from a smart patriotic youth to a physically and mentally broken man and thereafter into one of the lead figures in anti-war demonstrations is sheer amazing.

Making a movie on the war horrors as a theme is a difficult job as evident from the few which have been able to handle it very well. I wonder if there would be ever an attempt to make some movie on this subject in the indian film industry, dealing the subject rationally, pointing out the ugliness on all sides of the fence rather than spreading sheer jingoism.

(watched on july 28th, 07)