BEFORE: This would have been a great opportunity to link to "Nebraska", but that's still on PPV too, and I'm not paying $5 for that film either. Instead, Bruce Dern carries over from "Django Unchained" and serves as the link to the Jane Fonda chain.
AFTER: I'm also missing out on the opportunity to schedule a film on Veterans' Day this year, because I'm planning to watch just 300 films in 2014, and I should be done with that before then. I could have programmed this for Armed Forces Day, which is in May, but I was deep in the Hitchcock chain then. (I think I came close with "Foreign Correspondent", that will have to do.) So it's my time to honor America's Vets today.
I realize that I lead something of a hedonistic lifestyle - not that I take drugs or have illicit sex, but I try to enjoy the finer things (as I define that) like beer floats, BBQ, comic books and so on. Every once in a while I, like most Americans, should stop and appreciate the fact that people fought to preserve the lifestyle I enjoy, and the freedoms that make it possible. Many died, many were injured, and many still bear the scars, physical and mental.
The Vietnam War took place in a much different time, I realize, but the problems that Vietnam vets faced upon returning home were in many ways the same as any other veterans. However, in some ways they were much worse - there was the shame of losing the war, the trouble re-adjusting to civilian life, the feeling of being abandoned and ignored by the U.S. government. Sad to say that the recent news about appalling conditions, long wait times and general run-around at V.A. hospitals demonstrates that perhaps not much has changed after all. (Blame THAT guy - General Run-Around)
So I'm going to ignore the feeling that this film was crafted by someone with an agenda, or an axe to grind. Just because that was a motivating factor, it doesn't mean that the agenda wasn't valid, or the axe didn't NEED grinding. This film may be forever tied to its time period, but that doesn't make it any less important.
In some ways, it's just a simple love triangle, with Vietnam and a VA hospital just serving as a backdrop. But where "Django Unchained" was all flash and little substance, this one nails the compulsory points of a love triangle. In that I mean that the two lead males are a study in contrasts - from the very first shot, one is jogging and the other is lying in a hospital bed. One's on active duty, the other has been discharged due to injury. One is optimistic and looking forward to his tour in Vietnam (yep) and the other is depressed and cynical.
This is important because if the two characters were similar, we wouldn't really get it when the wife of the active soldier develops feelings for the wounded one. Another key difference - one is far away, the other one is nearby. This doesn't make the wife fickle, it all goes to support what she feels she can get emotionally from one that she couldn't get from the other. This is seen on a physical level too - the sex scenes with the two men couldn't have been more different. I'll spare you the exact details, but I don't blame Sally for her choice.
I guess you can say I've been on the losing end of a love triangle, and it sucks. I can't really say there were any winners in the situation, except that all three parties were eventually able to move on and lead (presumably) productive lives. But when you learn your partner has been unfaithful, and that it was with the ONE person in the world that would annoy you the most, it's just the most awful sinking feeling. You might as well just end the relationship right there, because even if you can put things back together, it's never going to be the same.
My one quibble with the film comes with the ending. The fate of one character is left somewhat ambiguous - which leaves the resolution of the love triangle in doubt. Perhaps there was a feeling that some viewers would root for the injured veteran, and others would root for the wronged husband, so an ending was concocted that could be read two ways, leaving it for the viewers to decide. That's a bit of a cop-out, unfortunately, and I think at some point it needed to be clarified.
Also starring Jane Fonda (last seen in "Julia"), Jon Voight (last seen in "U Turn"), Robert Carradine (also carrying over from "Django Unchained"), Penelope Milford, Robert Ginty, David Clennon (last seen in "Sweet Dreams"), with cameos from Jonathan Banks (last seen in "Identity Thief"), Marc McClure, and ventriloquist Willie Tyler (!)
RATING: 6 out of 10 Rolling Stones songs
No comments:
Post a Comment