This film was extremely accurate, from its portrayal of the war in Vietnam, to the pre-war culture that drove so many American men to sacrifice their lives, minds, and bodies on the altar of their nation. The film was also really good at portraying returning veterans treatment, the public’s opinion on the war, and the general feeling of resentment felt by many veterans. –Lucca Crowe.

This movie, however poorly Tom Cruise acted, did follow Kovic’s story fairly well. One thing that really stuck out to me was that Kovic actually did shoot a young corporal. That was a detail I expected to just be thrown into the movie for dramatic effect and to show the general mistreatment and uncaring of the US and superior officers when it comes to the treatment of the soldiers and the general attitude in Vietnam. However, this actually did happen and Kovic’s superior officers really did refuse to hear about it. So it really does a good job showing how terrible the Vietnam conflict was.-Teresa Felipe

This movie was pretty accurate to the history it portrayed, as far as the experiences of Vietnam veterans goes. The disconnect between the Vietnam veterans and their families upon returning home I thought was well-represented through Kovic’s feelings of isolation. I think the film overall did a good job of portraying the hostility that returning Vietnam veterans faced, not just from the American public, but from politicians as well who refused to give them the help they needed. Something I wanted to point out was the scene at the veteran protest, when Kovic is trying to talk to the news reporters, and someone spits on him. I liked this scene because it’s sort of gesturing the most iconic (if untrue) imagery of this time, that of Vietnam veterans being spit on, but showed that the party most hostile towards veterans were not hippies, as is usually assumed, but people in power who did not want the truth of the brutality of the war to be seen. - Maris Tiller

I believe the film to be an accurate representation of the Vietnam War and the reactions to it as well as the soldiers coming home. The people supporting the war were due to their fear of communism. I think the film did an accurate job portraying that especially in Kovic’s family. I think the film also does a good job portraying what happened to soldiers and what happened when they returned home. People's reactions being both positive and negative. I think it also showed how much the war affected soldiers' mental health. Ron really struggles after the war with his mental health and that is shown well in the film. -Sophie Weber

The detail where Kovic goes to the parents and widow of the man he accidentally killed to confess and ask for forgiveness did not actually happen, and was added as an emphasis to Kovic's guilt over the incident. Director Stone claimed that he added the scene to give Kovic some closure, but that doesn't seem like something to be used as a cinematic device, as Kovic really did mistakenly kill a marine. Although there aren't many details on the making of this scene, it's probable that the parents of the corporal killed were not consulted. This scene just seemed too idealistic even with the widow refusing to forgive him. – Jane Michael

The film seems to imply that Kovic’s influence was part of what led to an organized anti-war protest movement from Vietnam veterans. Donna’s statement earlier in the movie, saying if he joined up with them he might lend them more credibility, seems to imply that there were not already organized Vietnam veterans also protesting the war. Perhaps this is a flaw in the overall structure of the film; we don’t really see the formation of the veterans’ protest group, we just see the protest itself. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be implied that Kovic had a major role in the formation of this group, but it was nonetheless. - Maris Tiller

Born on the 4th of July does a really good job showing how easy it was for Vietnam veterans to become disenfranchised with the American governemt +the Vietnam War itself. -Katherine Rayhart

This film was released in 1989, a little over ten years since the war ended. After a quick Google search, I saw that several films about Vietnam were released within this decade. Full Metal Jacket was released in 1987, Platoon was released in 1986, Casualties of War in 1989, and the comedy film Good Morning, Vietnam was released in 1988. This clearly reflects a trend in American media throughout the late 80’s and 90’s. This film is only able to reflect on the ten or so years following the war, which I feel like limits it in some ways. The director, Oliver Stone, is a Vietnam veteran himself, which I think is incredibly interesting. While this film is based off of a real story, I can only imagine that this was Stone’s way of telling his own experiences as well. Along with this film, Stone has made two other films about the Vietnam War, Heaven & Earth and Platoon. –Olivia Foster

First of all, the directors and producers cast big name actors, such as Tom Cruise, and it did not work in their favor. Cruise’s acting consisted of him yelling, acting drunk, and making crazy eyes the entire movie. They probably chose to portray Ron Kovic that way to show the hardship that Vietnam veterans went through and the fast drastic changes they experienced going from domestic life to a war zone and back. However, Tom Cruise is just so annoying and does not do a good job portraying this in my opinion. His crazy eyes were incredibly off putting and his yelling and overall demeanor really distracted from the actual hardships and struggles that many veterans went through and the actual story of Kovic. I believe the choice to have a big name actor meant sacrificing good acting and thus sacrificing having an actually good, meaningful movie. -Teresa Felipe

This film was not only not that great, but felt very disconnected in the way that it chose to follow Kovic's life. The scenes of him as a child and teenager seemed too long and convoluted, and though they were obviously included to emphasize how young Kovic was when he went into the Marines, it does not come off that way. After the war, the relevant scenes got strangely far apart with no explanation as to how he was getting there or how he had found out about anything or anywhere he was going. It really made it seem like Kovic was just sort of being dragged around and ended up in places arbitrarily, and then was like 'hey I like this!' Since he was an activist, it felt like a disservice to the actual Kovic to portray him as a man obsessed with no real direction until he ended up in one. It also felt like a disservice to the college anti-war movement to portray them in such a contrast to Kovic, as although the VVAW was certainly a more effective body for protest, the college anti-war movement was still very organized. – Jane Michael

This film was really powerful in its capture of the motivations and emotional shifts felt by many American soldiers. Certainly the script and performances in the film went a long way in communicating the themes of the film, but what stud out to me most was the camera work. The scenes featuring Ron Kovic in Vietnam are all filmed in this fast, shaky, camerawork that leads the viewer feeling just as confused and disoriented as Kovic; the style is never repeated and contrasts sharply with the far more traditional camerawork of the rest of the film. Also for many of the scenes after Kovic is paralyzed, the camera is set at his level, forcing the audience to look up at the people around him; it’s a really neat trick and does a lot to put the audience in Kovic’s state of mind. –Lucca Crowe.

The movie felt all over the place and kind of random at times. It was hard to follow his life once he was discharged from rehab. I think the main point from this film was the mental health of soldiers and how much the war affected them. I think it was strong in that portrayal because you could understand how much pain the soldiers were in throughout. It also accurately shows the fighting back home and shows how powerful and dangerous it was for people protesting the war. -Sophie Weber

I feel like a majority of the films made about Vietnam are incredibly more violent than other war movies. It may be a skewed perspective on my part, but I feel as though movies about Vietnam appear more violent to mirror both the realities and the public feelings about the war. Movies about the war have been made relatively close to the end of the war, while a majority of veterans were still alive and young. As I mentioned beforehand, I feel like making these films so close to the actual events limits the time and perspective to tell an impactful story about the effects of coming home from Vietnam. I think the difference is that the media has always been a crucial part of the Vietnam War, it was one of the first American-fought wars that was highly publicized to the public, and that is why we see so many movies about it. –Olivia Foster

Tom Cruise's abysmal acting made it really hard to care about anything shown on screen. This is a very important story to tell and I can't focus on it because Tom Cruise is incredibly annoying. His portrayal as Kovic comes across as a whiny, excessively vulgar (and that's coming from a person who swears a lot), man-child who lashes out at everyone around him. - Katherine Rayhart