Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 Oliver Stone movie based on the nonfiction book written by Ron Kovic, a gung-ho Marine whose hellish experiences during and after Vietnam transformed him into an anti-war activist. This mature drama contains extreme and disturbing verbal and physical violence and graphic scenes depicting the Vietnam War and the protests against it. Women and children are shown lying dead in pools of their own blood. Soldiers are shown falling to the ground after being hit in the head by bullets; gory injuries are shown. They should also know that the film includes scenes of sexual impotence and prostitution, with bare breasts shown. Profanity is frequent -- especially "f--k" and its variations. Alcoholism, PTSD, and the myriad frustrations of veterans are addressed. Unlike so many other movies that glamorize and romanticize war, this movie does not flinch from the horrors of battle and what so many soldiers try to live with after coming home from tours of duty.
Sexual
Content
The film includes discussion of impotence (due to injury). A man in a VA hospital bed is shown having sex with a prostitute. The lead character sleeps with a prostitute in Mexico. In both instances, breasts are shown. The lead character's mother finds a copy of Playboy underneath his bed.
Violence
Graphic acts and results of physical violence are shown during the Vietnam battle scenes. Violence at the hands of police is shown during moments of protest, and drunken acts of violence are shown between injured Vietnam veterans. The film also includes various acts of verbal violence, both between the main character and his family and members of society at large. In the Vietnam battle scenes, women and children are shown lying dead in pools of blood. American soldiers are shown being shot and killed as bullets hit their helmets. In a battlefield hospital, injuries are graphically shown as soldiers struggle between life and death. While trying to learn to walk on crutches, the lead character falls and breaks his leg; a bone sticks out through his skin. Two Vietnam veterans in wheelchairs get severely intoxicated, get kicked out of a cab in the middle of a Mexican desert, argue over how many babies they think they killed in Vietnam, and get into a fight resulting in both of them being knocked out of their wheelchairs.
Language
Profanity used throughout to express the frustration, pain, and chaos of various moments (war, injury, social unrest). Includes uses of "f--k" and "motherf--ker." The Vietnamese are called "gooks" by American soldiers.
Social
Behavior
The film includes various types of social intolerance and undue violence on the part of soldiers and the police, but it also revolves around the brave story of a Vietnam veteran who pulls himself up from depression and bodily injury to fight the system. The courage and bravery of the college students, Vietnam veterans, and other peace activists are shown as protestors face down brutal beatings at the hands of the police, as well as anger and intolerance from those who don't share their views.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Excessive alcohol consumption. Disabled Vietnam veterans drink to excess to try to numb the pain of what they experienced in battle and what they contend with since returning home unable to walk. A man is shown shooting up morphine in the closet of a VA hospital. Teens and adults smoke cigarettes.
