The War

The War

The War, Directed by Jon Avnet, portrays several underlying themes and extended metaphors. The father, Stephen Simmons, returns home from the Vietnam War with intentions to rebuild his life with his family, but is also fighting a challenge of his own, post-traumatic stress. The father wants to be a role model for his children, and teaches them that love is the only thing worth fighting for; “the only thing that keeps people truly safe and happy is love.” (Stephen) The film displays the reality of post- traumatic stress, and presents an important life lesson on picking the right battles to fight.

Post-traumatic stress is no fake mental health condition.  This film shows the severity of PTS and how hard it is to return to a “normal life” after experiencing one or more terrifying events.  Stephen often dreams about his time in the Vietnam War and can never stop thinking about how he left his friend to die.  Stephen feels like he has to make up for his wrongs by being the best dad he can be.  “They’re gonna make a difference in the world… that means I made a difference.” (Stephen)  This quote shows that the only way Stephen can recover from PTS is make sure that his children think they can accomplish anything.  Only then he will feel like he has done something meaningful to his life.      

Happiness and peace is found by choosing the best way to go about an issue.  The film relates the conflicts from the Vietnam War to the current conflicts of the feud between the Simmon’s and the Lipnicki's.  Stephen’s son, Stu, is constantly getting into fights with this other group of kids.  Stu eventually learns to put his emotions towards the greater good, after he learns from his and his father’s experiences of war.  “War is like a big machine that no one really knows how to run and when it gets out of control it ends up destroying the things you thought you were fighting for, and lot of other things you kinda forgot you had.” (Lidia)  A good example of this was when the two groups were fighting over the tree house.  In the end, the tree house is destroyed, and during the battle, Stu sees the pointless fighting all around him.  He realizes that his mind was clouded with ignorance and anger after his father’s death.  He then looks to the most important issue at hand, saving Billy from drowning in the water tower.  Overall, Stu showed an act of courage by saving Billy and earned the respect of the Lipnicki’s.  Just like his father did in that cave, Stu risked his life to save another. 

The lesson learned is to look past the battle at hand, and strive for the solution that is beneficial for all.  Stephen could never forgive himself for leaving his fellow solider in the war, but redeemed himself by saving his friends life in the cave.  Stephen was able to die at peace, now knowing that he did his job as an outstanding figure for his family.  Stu experienced a death of a loved one, but was able to overcome his troubles in a positive way.  Stu finally understands that fighting is useless in the absence of love.  The one thing you can take away from this film is that it only, “takes a split second for you to do something you’ll regret the whole rest of your life.” (Stephen)