Welcome to Vietnam everyone.
Okay, not really.
Welcome to a little town in nowhere Pennsylvania where three best friends, Steve, Mike & Nicky, decide to leave the factory and go to Vietnam.
Mike:
And Nicky:
are in love with the same woman:
(go figure)
The first half of this three and a half hour, multiple award winning, film is dedicated to the last 48 hours before shipping off. The middle 30 minutes is about their time in Vietnam and specifically as POWs where they are exposed to and forced to participate in russian roulette. Those that make it back are not the same men. I will say however De Niro rocks some very serious badassery for about 25 minutes that makes the 3 hours of emotional pain totally, totally worth it. The remainder is all aftermath and the reality of communities and soldiers adjusting to a world after Vietnam.
I read a review on Netflix by a self-proclaimed Vietnam vet who said this movie is "a very good anti-war movie" I disagree. I found it to be patriotic and sad but it didn't have an anti-war or anti-Vietnam message as far as I could tell. It didn't glorify the horror or praise it nor did it stand against it. It did however strive to acknowledge the sadness and trauma of war and the effects it has on the soldiers and their families.
But back to Meryl Streep. With out even articulating a full sentence and with in her first 5 minutes on screen she has your heart in your throat. You meet her as a young woman trying to wrangle her drunken father into bed before she leaves the house to go be the maid of honor at Steve's wedding. Dad pops her a good one and she quietly steels herself.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Meryl Streep is dialed in at this time for the quiet, intelligent strength balanced against an adorable capacity for light and play. And Hollywood is seeing this and casting accordingly. Her Linda is a small town girl who ceases to put up with a drunken father. She's in love with two men and just as willing to say she doesn't know what she's feeling as articulate it once she does. Linda's growth and changes in response to the three men growing and changing as a result of their experiences shows the audience that was has happened to these men is real and goes down into the roots of the community.
Also, let's just take a moment to acknowledge the grace and beauty that was Christopher Walken. What happened Walken? He dances, he kisses, he charms!
Needless to say, his fairy tale prince features and graceful dancing just didn't jive with more cowbell and I was distracted. Actually I will say there was one seen where Nicky is in the hospital and he's asked to remember his parent's birthdays and the depth with which he comes undone almost steals the entire movie.
Meanwhile Meryl Streep is kissing De Niro for the first time on film:
Also. And this next pic might be a big flippin' spoiler so don't look to closely or go away, but for the second time in the Meryl Streep Oeuvre, we get to hear her sing at the end of the film. It's probably the saddest rendition of the national anthem I've ever heard:
Damn I need a comedy already.
