Coming Home, one of the very top films of 1978, a war drama, became what one can describe as everything that was horrible, disgusting and dishonourable in United States policy with their war in Viet Nam. Now that I've seen the film, I totally understand how a nation rose up to protest the hundreds of thousands being killed in NAM, the first war in which the U. S. was NOT victorious. In the public conscious the war in Viet Nam forever will remain a blot, a horrifying shame for the U. S. in the eyes of the entire civilized world. The story basically evolves in an army hospital thereby focusing on personal interactions and relationships between wounded GI's and army medical staff... even the finding of love after years of brutality on the war field. By no means does the film minimize one iota the hell these poor men went through. The film is not PREACHY but it's unflinching in delivering its message. Coming Home stood for everything that was wrong in this senseless war that divided a nation so completely, the likes of which had never before happened. In WW II every young man and woman wanted to enlist to protect democracy. The complete antithesis was true of the Viet Nam war. Jane Fonda won a well-deserved 2nd Oscar in her role as a nurse and to the delight of almost everyone at the time, Jon Voigt took Best Actor Honours as a totally disabled war vet. His victory came as a surprise, apparently, whereas Jane Fonda's win was a shoe in. Jane was one of the main celebrity protesters over Nam and she was labelled, HANOI JANE. It must have been great to see her so vindicated when previously she was so vilified by the U. S. government. I want to mention Bruce Dern who was Oscar nominated in the Supporting Award. He was brilliant as a disturbed war vet. The late, great director HAL ASHBY, I believe, was a genius. With his films now readily accessible, I am coming to know his magnificent art. His output of super films is nothing short of miraculous. COMING HOME is only one of his dozens of masterpieces. His HAROLD and MAUD is now a cult classic.
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