| Show In Country a review Mark Hewitt News Editor The possibility of yet another Vietnam movie always fills me with a certain dread that has been with me since Rambo hit the screen and which films like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket have only partially recompensed Yet sure enough there is another Vietnam film this one titled In Country The name the soldiers in Vietnam had for the place In Country was directed by veteran film maker Norman Jewison and was his film in 25 years He has personally personal personal- ly received nominations for four Oscars and his films boast 45 nominations and 12 Academy Awards His credits include include include in in- clude In the Heat of the Night Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck I had seen what I thought were all possible permutations permutations permutations per per- mutations of a Vietnam film with Jewison at the helm however I was willing to take a chance In Country is about Samantha Hughes Emily Lloyd and her quest to find the father she never had Living with her uncle Emmett Bruce Willis also a Viet Vet Samantha's discovery dis- dis overy covery of a box of her fathers father's letters and photos leads her heri into Cirito i to a search to uncover the roots of his death in Vietnam nearly two decades earlier Emmett who is thought to be marginally out of whack by the population of the small Kentucky town where they live refuses to answer any of Samantha's questions about her father or the War He advises her to stay away from what she can never understand Samantha pursues the matter and discovers that her father kept a diary One of the finest scenes in the film takes place in a swamp where Samantha is camping reading the diary of her dead father Like ghosts the members members members mem mem- bers of her fathers father's platoon materialize from the fog in a phantasmal transition to the scene in which her father is killed Emmett finally breaks down and tells all to a now tart Samantha mantha Forcing her to list listen n to she he now loathes Emmett exposes the ugly gly truth of Vietnam Finally Fin in a quest for conciliation with the dead Emmett and Samantha go to Washington DC D.C. and the Vietnam Veterans Veteran's Memorial Emily Lloyd a charismatic actress failed to carry the first half of the film which concentrated heavily upon her quest for her father In fact the entire first half of the picture had the greasy taste of the superfluous and for what needed to have been a sincere beginning felt synthetic Far from its tolerable first half however the final half of ofIn ofIn ofIn In Country found its it's most powerful and moving redemption in the lives of the vets themselves It was during the last half of the film that we begin to focus on the heretofore peripheral Emmett The second hour of In Country was as poignant as the first was contrived due in a large part to Bruce Willis' Willis performance At last we begin to see the process of healing delivering the satisfaction the entire film seemed to promise And it was in that healing that I found a Vietnam film that finally made sense In Country is not a Jungle Death Joseph Con- Con film It is a film about vets at home It is about their lives their families and what they left behind in Vietnam Additional contributions were made by James Horner who composed a masterful score and Bobbie Ann Mason who wrote the novel upon which the film was based received the first Presidents Citation from the Vietnam Veterans of America for her book In Country is an excellent film taken in sections on a whole it struggles but survives If like Hamlet you can Throw Throwaway away the part of it and live the purer with the other half then I recommend In Country without reser reser- If you cant can't wait for the video I t 1 I if r a r s 's i ra l S f r r Sy S1 1 TC b s y r 4 A 1 Y i b 4 Emmett Bruce Willis and his neice Sam Emily Lloyd in In Country |
