Born in the Fourth of July (1989)

Title: Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Director: Oliver Stone

Writers: Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic

Cast: Tom Cruise, Willem Defoe

Review:

The other day I was walking around town, just hanging out on a beautiful sunny day and I came upon this group of American tourists. For those of you who don’t know, I live in Puerto Rico, an island of the Caribbean. We are territory of the U.S., but we have our own government, it’s what is commonly referred to in our island as a commonwealth. We can’t vote for the president of the U.S., but we can go to war for the U.S. The United States has military bases stationed all over the island because our position on the map is strategic, for military purposes. So the other day I’m walking around town and I see this group of about four Americans, looking like they’d been partying for days on end. You know, they had that partied out look. Actually, to be honest, they looked like a group of either drunks or junkies, I couldn’t decide which. Maybe both. So there I am, smoking a cigarette with a friend of mine and I walk up to one of them and I ask “where you guys from?” the guy says: “Texas” and I go “You guys came to Puerto Rico to party huh?” And he went on to tell me how he was a soldier who’d been stationed in Irak and how war had fucked him up beyond repair. His words were “it changes you”.

Now, I’ve personally never been to war and I don’t think I ever will be. Don’t know about you guys, but it’s not in me to kill somebody else; especially not for political reasons. My only references to war come from movies. The guy tells me that he wants to go back to war, because he can’t function properly in regular society anymore. Immediately, The Hurt Locker (2008) , First Blood (1982) and Platoon (1986) popped to mind and I asked him if he’d seen them. He said he didn’t know what I was talking about. I felt like an idiot because this guy has probably been through hell, seen lots of death and destruction first hand, and there I was talking about movies. I never saw those guys again; don’t know if they were court marshaled or if they ever got back on their boat or if they ever went back to war or what. But his words after that conversation stayed with me. “It changes a man” and at certain point in the conversation the words “I don’t like to talk about it” turned up as well. Now, when a person says that, you know they have been deeply wounded. Which brings me to my review for today: Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July.

Born on the Fourth of July is the story of an American boy named Ron. Ron likes playing war with his friends from school, he loves going to the 4th of July parade, and he loves America! His family is the kind of family who goes to Church on Sundays and believes in the American Dream. They love their country, love God, so when Ron decides that after high school he is going to enlist, mom gives the O.K.! In fact, she fully supports her sons’ desires to go to the Army and fight against ‘The Reds’. She simply tells her son “Ronnie, you’re doing the right thing! Communism has to be stopped! It’s God’s will that you go and I’m proud of you!” This was during the time when Americans hated the Russians and saw them as public enemy #1, the evil communist plague that was going to take over the world. Everyone thought the Russians where going to bomb us with their nukes. Ron wants to do what he thinks is right so he goes to fight for his country. Unfortunately for him, he ends up going to Vietnam. Will he survive the war and its psychological aftermath? Will he be the same when he returns?

Innocense before it is lost

Oliver Stone’s films often times fall under the category of ‘subversive’ or anti-government, and Born on the Fourth of July is one of those. The word subversive can be seen as a negative by many, specially those who love their government, but the fact of the matter is that sometimes, you have to call things for what they are, and lets face it, the U.S. Government hasn’t always been squeaky clean. In fact, they have played quite dirty over the course of American history. Oliver Stone simply points his finger at these moments in which the government has failed its people. In his own words, and this is a point that is hammered across in Born on the 4th of July quite often, Oliver Stone does not hate America, he simply does not agree with the way that the government behaves itself sometimes. On this film, he focuses on the way the system will raise you up in believing that God wants you to go and fight for your country, that this is the right thing to do. And then after you risk and sacrifice your life and your psychological well being, they spit you out, and treat you like crap. They give you a shinny medal to hang on your wall. Which serves you for absolutely nothing; except to remind you of the hell you went through.

One last moment of love before going to war

Ron Kovic, this films main character is played by Tom Cruise. I’ll just jump right here and say that this is without a doubt in my mind Tom Cruises’s finest day as an actor. He was trying to present himself as a serious actor, not just a commercial one. He’d done only two dramatic roles before this one. The Color of Money () for Martin Scorcese and Rain Man (1988) acting side by side with Dustin Hoffman. So he was on the up and up, trying to be taken seriously in Hollywood instead of being just another pretty face. I have to say he achieved his goal to perfection. This is a solid performance from Cruise; he goes deep in the insanity, in the grime, into the suffering. There are some really heartfelt moments on this film. One moment has Ron Kovic in a hospital, trying to recuperate from a nearly fatal injury, yet he is treated with neglect by the hospital. In one particularly desperate moment Kovic emphatically requests: “All I’m saying is that I want to be treated like a human being! I fought for my country! I am a Vietnam veteran! I fought for my country!” Unfortunately, once you have served your purpose, your country doesn’t care much about you. They may give you some money, but they can’t give you your lost limbs back can they? They can’t give you your sanity back either. Or a decent nights sleep, without the night terrors.

Oliver Stone

Like many war movies, this one focuses on how a veteran will have a hard time adjusting to regular every day life after going through war. Little things don’t seem to matter much, and the noises of war will forever echo inside your head. Ron tries living with his family, but somehow, the war and Vietnam always pops up, suddenly, Kovic is a very bitter person. He gets to the point where he can no longer live in peace with his own family. Mother and Son now hate each other! We get to see a family destroyed and betrayed by their own beliefs. The differences are so big now between Ron and his family that he simply has to leave, so he ends up going to Mexico to live in this resort where a bunch of Vietnam veterans go to pass their last days. There he meets Willem Defoe, who plays a character that mirrors Ron in a way. Ron sees similarities between himself and this guy. But he thinks ‘I don’t want to become this guy’. By the way, we get yet another memorable performance from the always great Defoe. I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen a film of his where I have been disappointed.

Escaping to Mexico to try and forget the madness of war

Born on the Fourth of July takes place during the late 60’s and early 70’s when the American people were more then fed up with the Vietnam war, there were lots of revolts on the streets, public out cries against the war. One pivotal scene takes place in a University Campus in which the police starts hitting the protesters. My question is this: what ever happened to freedom of speech during those days? Did it disappear? This part of the film got me sad, because this is currently happening where I live. There’s a population in revolt against the current government, and when people complain here, the government answers with pepper spray, and an army of police men ready to rip you a new asshole. Literally! I have seen it personally, people exercise their right to freedom of speech, and all they get is hit on the face by a club. Oppression is a sad thing, especially when it happens in a country where there is supposed to be none. Worse part is that during the 60’s people were speaking up for peace! For and end to war, and what they get in return is more violence.

Students vs. Police Men. Cops with Guns, Students with Flowers. This picture was taking a couple of months ago, during a protest in the University of Puerto Rico

Technically speaking this is one of Oliver Stone’s most beautiful looking films. The first 20 minutes of the film, where we see the Ron’s picket fence all American neighborhood is a beautiful way to open the movie. Stone really captured this sort of suburban way of living, with the suburban neighborhoods, the friends you grow up with, the backwoods where you played your games as a kid. Your first girlfriends, you high school dance, all these moments that capture your typical American up bringing, and its all done in such a colorful, bright and shinny fashion. As if to clash with the horror that is to come in the second half of the film, after Ron returns from Vietnam. The beauty of ‘normal’ life vs. the horrors of a war torn life. The second half of the film is darker in tone, fiercer somehow, it captures that aura of desperation, of rebellion and of chaos that permeated the America of the late 60’s and 70’s. The time of Nixon’s reign of terror as I like to call it.

Real life Kovic vs. Tom Cruises portrayal of him

So ladies and gentlemen don’t know how many of you have seen this film, but it’s an amazing movie. It’s the true definition of an ‘emotional rollercoaster ride’. It is epic in scope, and it speaks of realities that none of us should ever ignore. There is something I like about Oliver Stone’s films, many of them are based on real life stories, so the result is a film that rings very true, very genuine and this was definitely the case with Born on the Fourth of July, its based on the real life experiences of Ron Kovic, the all American boy who wanted to be a war hero. He wanted to be the best damn soldier to ever serve his country, and then reality kicked in. By the way, Kovic himself wrote the script along with Oliver Stone, so I guess that makes the film that much more accurate. Another cool thing about this movie: it has tons of cameos! If you look closely you’ll see a lot of familiar faces peppered out through out the whole film, you gotta keep your eyes open though. I recently acquired an Oliver Stone Boxed Set, so Ill continue my reviews for Stone’s films for the next couple of days, be on the look out for that!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Daybreakers (2009)

Title: Daybreakers (2009)

Director/Writer: The Spierig Brothers

Cast: Willem Defoe, Ethan Hawke, Sam Neil

Review:

This weekend I saw two very interesting horror films. One of them commented on the evils of religion (which I will be reviewing tomorrow so be on the look out for that review) and the other one was Daybreakers, which comments on capitalism and the results of it on society. Daybreakers is a vampire film that comes to us from the mighty inventive Spierig Brothers. These two Australian bro’s were the guys responsible for the totally outlandish zombie film Undead (2003). Undead was an independently funded film about zombies taking over Australia. The film was made with under a million dollars, maxing out their credit cards, and doing everything very low key. In fact, the computer effects for their film were made on their own personal computer, at home! The final results, though not perfect, were very entertaining and proved to the world that these guys could make a film.

One of the Spierig's shooting a scene

Daybreakers is the first film they make with a real budget. Producers took notice that these guys loved making movies and would be capable of making a kick ass motion picture if given the chance. So Daybreakers was born. A very solid sophomore effort if I say so myself. They even managed to amass an impressive cast! Undead was a zombie film that actually put the whole zombie idea through a grinder, shredded it, and ended up with something that’s actually pretty offbeat and original. A hard thing to do when making a zombie movie, since so many of them have been made. But they pulled it off. Undead’s budgetary limitations are obvious at times, but the story line is so out there that it keeps you pulled in. The Spierig Brothers managed to do the same thing with Daybreakers.

Regain your humanity you evil corporate douche bag!

Daybreakers is a film that takes place in the year 2019, a couple of years away from our time. Vampires have taken over the world and humans are harvested so the vampires can feed on their blood. But some humans have managed to escape the vampires and are living hidden, scurrying about like cockroaches running away from the light. Humans are an endangered species, but they are getting organized and they have a plan! In the man time, vampire society is facing another problem. Vampires are running out of humans to feed from and out of this blood starvation, some vampires are starting to mutate into these horrible vampire monster things, rabid, violent, murderous and thirsty for blood! Will the world ever regain its humanity?

Again, the Spierig Brothers have managed to surprise me. Various factors amazed me about this movie but let’s start with the way the film looks. Daybreakers is a very elegant looking film. Since the film takes place during the future, everything looks slick and new. Vampires use a lot of technology. Neon lights, computers, futuristic looking cars and skylines. I loved it. As an added bonus, Daybreakers is pure film noir mixed with vampires and sci-fi. Like most film noir, the story takes place during the night, in the busy city. Staying true to its nourish influences, there are very few day scenes in the film. And when there is a day scene its very bright and colorful, showing us an anti-thesis of what it means to be a vampire, hidden in the darkness and shadows of the night. Whenever it is nighttime, the film takes this grey/blue look to it that fits perfectly with the vampire world. So we have a slick, elegant and stylish looking vampire film. Visually, it’s a one up on their last film.

Thematically speaking Daybreakers amazed me the most. It’s a movie that perfectly encapsulates what society is living through right now. The Spierig’s use of vampirism as an allegory for capitalism and how its bleeding society dry was pure genius. The main villain in the film (played by Sam Neil) is a vampire who is the big honcho of a major company that is in charge of draining humans of their blood. This character represents those big corporations that know the harm they are doing with their way of doing business, but they do it anyway, because the profits are just so high! I also loved how this movie is practically begging society to regain its humanity, by introducing the element of having a cure for vampirism. In this way, the film is sending out a message: don’t be cold hearted and turn a blind eye on humanity! Look at what you are doing, regain that warmth, that caring for your fellow human being.

Vampires have a dilemma on this film. There is good quality blood being sold to people at a very high price and there is bad quality blood, which is what they are feeding the masses at a very cheap price. But what happens when the masses don’t like the crap you are feeding them? This is one of the questions that this film asks. And what will you do when those masses revolt? These scenes talk about how in the world we live in, good food is too expensive and inaccessible to the masses while the unhealthiest food is cheap, and its what poor people have to end up eating. My solution is make good food cheap! You shouldn’t play with peoples health that way. But apparently things aren’t that simple in the real world.

The theme of the rich vs. the poor, the rebels vs. the sysmte is a recurring theme in films today. I recently did a post on Subversive Cinema, and it talked about films that criticize and comment on the way the governments of the world are running things. But these movies have become so numerous as of lately that I’m going to have to do a second post on these socially conscious films. Daybreakers is defenetly going to be on that list because its a film that speaks about the way capitalism and bad government affects us, and the direct results of this way of living. The ravenous mutations that start to appear as a result of blood starvation are a symbolism for the homeless, the bums, the drug addicts, the alcoholics and criminals that inhabit the streets of every country. What I loved about Daybreakers is that it shows us that these creatures are simply a result of the society that they come out of. You give the people shit all the time; and its guaranteed that they are not going to remain happy. You feed them crap, and they will begin to get sick. You don’t pay them enough to survive in the world and they will turn into homeless individuals. It’s no surprise that every country that has an oppressive classist government that stomps on the poor and favors the rich has rebellion on its streets. My question is, do these governments prefer to live with a rebellious population? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if we were all treated with the respect and dignity that we all deserve?

This horror film is very influenced by Richard Matheson’s I am Legend. The way I see it, this is the Spierig Bros. version of I am Legend. Its closer to what I am Legend should have been like instead of Will Smith battling a bunch of bald cgi mutants. The Spierig Bros. captured the ideas behind the book way better in my opinion. But even though the film exists within the same situation as Matheson’s novel, it still goes its own way.

On the negative side, the only “been there done that” element that this film has is the rebels vs. the system angle. So you get that formula where we get to meet the rebels, see their hide out/headquarters and the ultimately the government finds them and the good guys have to go on the run. It was similar to Alejandro Cuaron’s Children of Men (2006) in this way. But hey, what are you going to do? Art reflects life, and this is what a lot of people are going through right now. Its why there have been so many films with this same theme lately. The only other bad thing I can say about this film is that it ends with a whimper, it didn’t go out with a bang the way it should’ve. It blew its wad too soon as they say. But other than that, the film is solid! The Spierig Bros. are slated to direct the upcoming sequel to The Dark Crystal. I’m really curious for that one, these two directors have an eye for slick and stylish visuals and I cant wait to see what they do with a fantasy film.

Rating 4: out of 5