Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 65

Born on the Fourth of July

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which opens the film. Crowds wave the American flag and cheer as
veterans pass by. The soldiers are praised for their commitment to
the values of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness embodied in the
Declaration of Independence. Later, the romantic idealism of the
military is evident in a Marine recruiter's speech. The recruiter,
played by Tom Berenger, challenges an auditorium filled with young
men to join the proud tradition of the Marines. Later, Kovic and his
friends consider their options for the future. While some plan for
college or business careers, Kovic accepts his patriotic duty and
enlists in the Marines.
Elements of religion also play a major role in Kovic's family
life. When he prays that he is making the right decision to enlist,
Kovic's mother replies that it is "God's will that you go."^^ This
scene establishes a dialectical opposition between the religious
belief in the sanctity of life and the reality that war entails taking
human lives. This tension is elevated when U.S. soldiers raid a
Vietnamese village, only to find that they have slaughtered a hut
full of defenseless women and children.
The painful conflict between human life and killing humans
in battle is exacerbated by another tragic event. When Kovic kills a
fellow soldier in the confusion of a battle, he violates both God's law
and the soldier's code. Following the incident, Kovic approaches his
commanding officer, and in a scene symbolizing a priest hearing a
confession, he admits to killing the soldier. The officer absolves
Kovic's guilt, saying that in times of war, it is often difficult to
determine what is happening. The guilt does not subside however,
and "Each night before he slept he prayed to his god, begging for
some understanding of why the thing had happened, why he had
been made into a murderer with one shot...What kind of god, he
thought, would do this to him."^®
A dialectical tension between moral principles and the
soldier's duty creates a situation in which, "Kovic must struggle with
an experiential reality that contradicts the assumptions behind
[John] Kennedy's vision," of a world free from communism.^^ The war
is no longer a simple battle between good (democracy) and evil
(conununism), as Kovic fully recognizes when he faces life as a
paraplegic.
The experience of disabled Vietnam veterans highlights the
"naked form" of materialism which is "compassionless" and, taken to