632
PARTISAN REVIEW
ti on o f the ind ividu a l. for a ll hi s di sa biliti es, int o th c soc ia l framcwor k.
For the veteran in
Coming H ome
th e ch a llen ge is th e oppos it e: to cut
himself o ff from the h a bits o f mind , th e soc ia l con senSIl S, th a t sellt hi m
o ff to wa r in th e fir st pl ace. Modes t, fl awed , cvcn a little compromi scd
by box-office con venti o n s, th e film is neverthel ess ,\ seri o us act o f
witness, made by o bsessed people with lo ng memori es and a detCl'–
mined consc ience, a refu sa l
to
forget. T hi s is wh a t
Coml ll g
f1 0llle
fi n a il
y
mean s: bri ng in g th e wa r home. For o n ce th e Ho ll ywood left h as
do ne itself proud .
It 's peculi a rl y apt th a t Ho ll ywood sho uld ta kc no te o f ch a ng ing
n ati o n al a ttitudes, fo r it conLributcs as much to th e soci a l consensus as
a n y o ther American instituti on . Th e minds of o llr t!'Oo p s in Vi l'l nam
were fill ed w ith images from wa r mov ies; th e name tha t mo st recurs in
a ll th eir reco ll ecti ons is J ohn Wayn e, no t for
Th F
GrFFI7
B erF/s,
merely
a ghos t o f hi s ea rli er films, but fo r hi s cowboy mo \'ics and Wor ld Wa r
II hero ics . P art o f th e continu a l sh ock o f th e war was it s difference from
wh at wa r looked like in the mo vi es. "Thi s a in ' t th e fu ckin g mo \'i es
o \'cr here, yo u know," a h arden ed sergeant tell s Mi chael H err ea rl y
011
in
Dispa tches.
But wh en H err himself looks fo r a n image o f th e kind o f
pha nt asmagori c wa r it is, h e can o nl y describe it as " Iifc-as -mo \'i e, war–
as-(wa r ) mo vi e, wa r-as-lifc." No war film has ye t de\'e1 o ped the
equivalent o f Herr 's agitated , h a llucin a LOlY prose, meant to depi ct a
nerve-wrac king conflict with no front and little respit e, in whi ch " rca l
sleep was at a premium . . . . Mos tl y wh a t
YOU
h ad was th e ag it ated side
o f ha lf-sleep , you tho ught you wcre sleepin g but you ""lTe reall y just
wa itin g. Ni ght swea ts, h a rsh fun ct io nin gs o f con scio usn ess, driftin g in
and o ut o f your h ead... . " Perh a ps it 's too easy fo r a film like
Coming
H ome
to assume th at if you ' ve been to Vi etn am you ' re likely
to
come
back maimed o r deepl y di sturbed ; the eviden ce is there in books like
H err 's, where the dan ger of crackin g up is never fa r o ff , but th e film
o ught to show wh at it merely ass umes, wh a t it ta kes our own know l–
edge o f th e war to fill in .
Still. th e film is as impress ive fo r wh a t it docs no t do as fo r wh a t it
docs : for its refu sa l to expl o it th e vetcran o r tllrn him int o a mcta ph o r
for an ything but th e wretch ed wa r itself, fo r its a vo idance o f stock
images o f vio len ce a t h ome o r in Vi etnam , for its unwillin gn ess to
soli cit an easy respo n se. Arthur Penn , who ki cked o ff the current cycl e
o f movie viol en ce with
Bonnie and Clyde
in 1967, sa id severa l yea rs
ago , " I don't beli eve th e war in Vi etnam can be treat ed in a 'po pul ar
film .' We h ave n o ca p acit y to confront events of th at enormit y h eau
o n. " On the o ther h and , Pa ul Schrader, th e a llthOl' o f
T axi Drive r
and
