interpretation

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2001)

Interpretation, spoilers:
Two main struggles are woven together throughout this movie: the struggle between censorship and free speech and that regarding our role in Vietnam.

The struggle with censorship ends in compromise. During his visit with the troops, Robin realizes that the happiness and morale of the troops is more important than voicing every bit of controversial news. Humorous satire and sarcasm are one thing, and even lighten the burden of the soldiers, but reading unofficial news of the sort he did was completely unnecessary. There is no point in scaring the soldiers by telling them of bombings in demilitarized when nothing can be done to alleviate the problem and only learned helplessness will result. But, the censored news could have saved Robin a lot of trouble at another point. Basically, in this conflict between oppressor and oppressee, rebellion for the sake of rebellion is pointless and counteractive - as demonstrated by the final address and every post-suspension show.
Concerning the war itself a liberal position is taken. The human side of the Vietcong is shown, though secretly at first, and Robin shows his compassion for the enemy by risking his life in order to tell him of his death warrant. In order to make the liberal ideal come out less preachy, the young rebel himself proclaims it. Also, this leftistness is kept in check with Robin's chastisement over the bombings. Their intentions are well and good, but their actions are not.
Perhaps it seems out of place to speak of these aspects of the movie in a comedy; I think they definitively outshadowed the comedic aspects. Though I was able to catch most of the war references, much of the musical references and era references were beyond me. So maybe my age was a factor, but it would have to be damn funny to overshadow the dramatic issues posed by the war. Overall, 6 of 10, somewhat entertaining from a educational perspective.