In Country (1989) is a feature film directed by Norman Jewison and is based on the book by the same name by Bobbie Ann Mason. The film is a critic’s assessment of the consequences of the Vietnam War, both for the soldiers who were fighting and their relatives.
Plot Summary:
This film tells a story of a teenage girl Samantha Hughes (portrayed by Emily Lloyd) living with her relatives in a Kentucky town. Underneath Samantha Hughes is disappointed because she never knew her father who died fighting in Vietnam War before she was even born. Raised by her mother and uncle Emmett Smith an ex veteran (portrayed by bruce willis), she starts to take a keen interest in the aspects of the family that she lost during the war.
Emmett, who suffers from PTSD, is a man of few words and chooses not to dwell much on his past. But it is clear that to her as well as to him that the picture of Samantha’s father and the Vietnam war that she seems to crave and the reasons for her imaginative crusade are emotionally draining on both of them. The audience watches Samantha in her efforts to reinterpret her father’s role in the Vietnam War while watching Emmett come terms with his personal demons.
Key Cast:
Emily Lloyd as a teenage girl, an aspiring reporter and steadfast Samantha Hughes, for whom nothing is impossible
Bruce Willis as Emmett Smith, a Vietnam combatant with PTSD
Joan Allen as Irene, who is Samantha’s mother
Kevin Anderson as Tom, who has a crush on Samantha
Themes:
Postural effects after war: Still, the Vietnam War proves fatal not only for those who actually died, but also for the people like veteran Emmett who still suffers with PTSD after that war.
Connections and transmission of culture: The war impacts even the next generations, like Samantha’s wish of discovering the identity of her father whenever he is missing.
Sorrow, Grief and Acceptance. In this case both Samantha and Emmett suffer from similar losses, her deceased father whom she has never known and the unending war with all its cruel consequences.
Critical Reception:
In Country defended itself for how it portrayed the veterans with PTSD and the ramifications of war. Bruce Willis, usually confined in action roles at the time, was great in playing a quiet yet dramatic veteran. The performance of Emily Lloyd who played Samantha was also favorable, and the movie was able to make a serious story about serious matters while keeping the tone of the film thoughtful.
Fun Facts:
The character in the film, which stands in the Washington D.C., where the Vietnam War Memorial is located, is mainly considered as a place of inner peace and healing.
Bobbie Ann Mason, author of the novel in question, is a native of Kentucky, which lends the movie a certain degree of credulity in its depiction of rural America.
Though set against the backdrop of the Vietnam war, In Country is a singular and sensitive account of contemporary war trauma, more specifically the impact of Vietnam on its soldiers and their families.
