The War

        I recently watched the movie, The War, directed by the award winning director, Jon Avnet and written by Kathy Mcworter. It was produced in 1994, and is definitely what most would call a "heart tugger". This movie touches the heart just like Avnet's prior film Fried Green Tomatoes. When it was first released, it did not get many great reviews. Mostly because it was so similar to the plot of Fried Green Tomatoes. On the movie rating website Rottentomatoes.com, The War received a 27% rating out of a perfect 100%.
         Needless to say, it does say that 70% of people say they enjoyed the movie. If the movie was not compared to Avnet's prior movie, I'm sure the rating would have been off the charts. From my experience watching this film, I thought the plot was very well thought-out. It starts off as a battle scene in the Vietnam War. Stu Simmons is in the field of the war and after a minute or two it cuts to after the war when he returned back home to his family. The plot continues to thicken when you see how much Simmon's kids and wife were affected by his decision to go to war even after he returned, just as all the soldiers in Vietnam.

       The camera work in this film was amazing. In the second half of the film Simmon's, son and daughter build a tree fort. The arial camera work was phenomenal and showed the expression of the time it took them to build tremendously. The slow moving camera work and low lighting definitely set the somber mood when some of the plot twists occur. The color of the picture also gave you the old fashion feel, which is very important considering the movie takes place in the early 1970's. I think this film was all around spectacular, and strongly recommend it. It will absolutely touch your heart.