A Second Chance

By Samuel Olsen

[1] The Republican National Convention. 1972. It has been five years since the turmoil and destruction that was the Vietnam War. Ron Kovic has still not fully recovered from his tours of duty, and his body never will. As his fellow veterans, hardened men with wild looks in their eyes, wheel him into the RNC, Stone wants us to feel the same emotions that Kovic is feeling. Stone pulls the right strings to trigger the viewer’s emotions in the same manner he did during that fateful massacre in the village. This is because he wants us to see that Kovic has the same raw feeling attacking his government as he did the so-called enemy.

[2] In the moments before the protester revolt outside, Stone has Kovic speaking to a news reporter who has to physically muscle the Secret Service out of her way. Shouts of “Four more years” and clips of Nixon’s acceptance speech are fused together with Kovic’s diatribe culminating with the protestors being forcibly removed with chants of “Stop the war!” Kovic’s speech continues while he exits, seemingly a litany of questions for the government that Stone has juxtaposed nicely with Nixon's dry, formulaic acceptance of the nomination. This is Stone trying to get us to see the hypocrisy of the Nixon administration’s continued support of the war abroad while neglecting the veterans at home.

[3] While we are wondering why the government is subjecting its people to the torturous conditions such as in the veterans hospital, Stone is quietly recreating the atmosphere of battle. Previously, Kovic’s attempts to fight for his country have proven disheartening and his energy misappropriated. Stone reconstructs the same conditions that evoked Kovic’s heroic attitude in battle with a lack of visibility, lots of chaotic background noise combined with melancholy classical tunes, and quickly shifting camera angles. This is an attempt to allow Kovic to relive his lowest point and turn it from a negative to a positive.

[4] In both of these scenes Kovic is in a position of power and has the ability to motivate and maneuver a large group of people. He uses the same terms to direct their movements as Stone has him revert to his wartime nature. The cinematic techniques are such that it is easy to show Stone relates the two scenes. In the first the classical music plays as Kovic is in the heat of the battle, being attacked by the enemy, using the tools he has to get the outcome that the government desires and then later when he is reflecting on his accidental friendly fire. In the later scene the music plays as Kovic is verbally attacked by Nixon supporters and also as the protesters march back against the riot police. These musical relationships ask the watcher to connect the two scenes with one of the two senses we use to view film.

[5] In the heat of the battle one can only hear orders barked and injured people as helicopters fly low and explosions rattle your eardrums. These exact same sounds can be heard in the final scene as the protesters attempt to organize themselves amongst the tear gas, spotlights, and police brutality. The helicopters fly over the park in the same manner that they floated over Vietnam. People being beaten exclaim in the same manner as the soldiers who have been shot. The noises heard during rioting parallel those in battle.

[6] The visual similarities strengthen the argument as Stone does a good job of placing visual cues in each scene. The darting camera gives the viewer the sense that it is a chaotic situation, almost as if one is being jostled along with Kovic as he is wheeled through the riot. Before Stone used the technique to show not only the uncertainty of Kovic before he leads the assault but also to show the general uncertainty of battle. The camera darts from falling soldier to falling soldier and from beaten protester to beaten protester. The tear gas clouds the camera in the same manner that the kicked up sand and smoke did in the first scene. Finally, the silhouetted riot police equate to the faceless enemy in the Vietnamese.

[7] The techniques that Stone employs in the final section intentionally parallel the situation in the pivotal scene of the film. When watching, one gets the sense that Kovic is finally opening his eyes to reality to see that he can overcome the dreadful acts he was a part of. As a soldier, Kovic failed to protect his fellow Marines in battle. However, he is given a second chance when he realizes he can protect future soldiers, his independence, and his rights as an American citizen in a new type of battle, a civilian battle. Stone wants the viewer to associate the two scenes so that we can feel the raw emotion of battle coming out on American soil in a civil uprising and know that fighting for what’s right is important, overseas or even right here at home.