Not your average Vietnam film

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 2005)

"Born on the Fourth of July" had a certain impact of me. I first watched it at the cinema when I was 13. I didn't understand much about politics or war at the time. But it certainly struck some chord within myself. And then I watched that film a couple of times more in my "adult" life and, to me, it's one of Oliver Stone's very best. As well as Tom Cruise's induction into serious Hollywood stardom, forget "Cocktail" and "Top Gun". The way patriotism is depicted, it's veil of ignorance, god-family-and-the-flag...the way Vietnam 'vets' were betrayed, used...cannon-fodder for US politicians is fantastic. The beauty is that "Born on the Fourth of July" is not agonisingly political or in any way patronising.