"Look, if you think any American official is going to tell you the truth, then you're stupid." - Arthur Sylvester (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs)
Ed Harris and Kathy Baker are quietly effective in "Jacknife", an otherwise superficial film by director David Jones.
A cross between "Deer Hunter", "In Country", "Coming Home" and the countless post-war readjustment melodramas of the 1980s, "Jacknife" stars Robert De Niro and Ed Harris as a couple of Vietnam veterans struggling to overcome their traumatic war experiences. As is typical of American movies "about" the Vietnam War, this bloody conflict is reduced to "poor American soldiers" and much romanticised madness. The plight of the Vietnamese is ignored, the political context of the conflict is jettisoned and the war boils down to self-pitying, working class white dudes who struggle with scars. And as with "In Country", released the same year, Jones' message is both familiar and dubious: "you will never quite understand what they went through", we are told, but "be assured that they nevertheless went through it for you". Like "In Country" and "The Best Years of Our Lives", Jones' film then ends with our wounded warriors being healed by a little love and romance.
Still, the plights of veterans is a serious issue. Tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans died from suicide, many more suffered from post traumatic stress disorders, many struggled to readjust to civilian life and today similar conflicts in the Middle East see approximately 22 US soldiers committing suicide a day. Along these narrow lines, "Jacknife" is a sincere and touching film. Harris in particular is very good. Unsubtly scored by Bruce Broughton.
6/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Walker" and "Decision Before Dawn".
Ed Harris and Kathy Baker are quietly effective in "Jacknife", an otherwise superficial film by director David Jones.
A cross between "Deer Hunter", "In Country", "Coming Home" and the countless post-war readjustment melodramas of the 1980s, "Jacknife" stars Robert De Niro and Ed Harris as a couple of Vietnam veterans struggling to overcome their traumatic war experiences. As is typical of American movies "about" the Vietnam War, this bloody conflict is reduced to "poor American soldiers" and much romanticised madness. The plight of the Vietnamese is ignored, the political context of the conflict is jettisoned and the war boils down to self-pitying, working class white dudes who struggle with scars. And as with "In Country", released the same year, Jones' message is both familiar and dubious: "you will never quite understand what they went through", we are told, but "be assured that they nevertheless went through it for you". Like "In Country" and "The Best Years of Our Lives", Jones' film then ends with our wounded warriors being healed by a little love and romance.
Still, the plights of veterans is a serious issue. Tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans died from suicide, many more suffered from post traumatic stress disorders, many struggled to readjust to civilian life and today similar conflicts in the Middle East see approximately 22 US soldiers committing suicide a day. Along these narrow lines, "Jacknife" is a sincere and touching film. Harris in particular is very good. Unsubtly scored by Bruce Broughton.
6/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Walker" and "Decision Before Dawn".