Born on the Fourth of July (1989) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 1989
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry, Willem Dafoe, Caroline Kava, Tom Berenger, Frank Whaley, Stephen Baldwin, Michael McTighe
Rating: R
Release Date: 20 December 1989
Running Time: 2 hours 25 minutes

The Movie Review

Born on the Fourth of July film still 1


BORN On The FOURTH Of JULY
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Commonly who sheds tears after war..? War Veterans. From whose side...? from Both sides of course....War movies often delivers devastating and depressing facts from the Warfield point of view, some war movies choose to present it from an individual perspective and the aftermath of the war has inflicted upon him. So is the premise of an academy award winner movie, Born on the Fourth of July.

What makes this movie so good? It's real, not just the war but this movie is based on an Autobiography of real Vietnam War Veteran Mr. Ron Kovic. Which means BotFoJ is a film based on a real story of a struggling man who speaks the truth.

The story revolves around Ron Kovic. Ron Kovic grows up in a patriotic family circle with his father and uncle have already served the country before as soldiers. Ron determines to become a soldier as well and serves his country by fighting the Vietnamese Communists after an emotional speech of the Marine Corps in his school. In Vietnam, Ron (Tom Cruise) accidentally does some horrifying things that haunt him forever and he finally got shot in a combat. He's then taken to the hospital but he's sentenced by the doctors that he will never walk again and paralyzed from the mid-chest down which also means he can not move or feel his p*nis.

Ron Kovic goes back to his home and finds out that war is loathed and detested by the majority of common people and the war veterans are judged as killers (the term by that time is Baby Killer). Ron feels betrayed and robbed in every facet of his life, he has to face the world full of deceitfulness and rejection from the society. Little by little Ron starts to find the new truth and ready to face whatever may come...

Director and war veteran Oliver Stone is back, after he released Platoon three years earlier, Born on the Fourth of July was released in 1989, before Saving Private Ryan even exists. BOTFOJ is headlined by a-list actor Tom Cruise. This film has brought home two Oscars for Best Director (Oliver Stone) and Best Film Editing and has been nominated for several awards including Best actor in a leading role (Tom Cruise). Finally this film won the 1990 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture.

Like all great movies should be, it spends a good amount of time to acquaintance us with the characters. How patriotic Ron Kovic is when he's still a little boy and amazed by the war veterans parade, how he believes that war is a "good" thing and how his love life with his crush Donna. Those little details function as a good basis of understanding of Ron Kovic in the future will be. It involves us to feel empathy to Ron's changes.

Kudos for almost every facet in the movie, the colour tones of different emotion in different scenes, the dialogue, the musical soundtrack (especially the very touching "Moon River"), the camera angle, everything, this movie is great. But BOTFOJ is not just soulless great, it also conveys a great message from one of the most valid spokespersons...the Vietnam War veteran himself. If you like war drama movie or simply a great-quality movie, then Born on the Fourth of July is absolutely not to be missed.

© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com