In Country

While many of the comments here have voiced distaste for Emily Lloyd's performance, I've found it , along with the Grandmother, to be very true to Appalachia...I taught many, many students who talked like Sam, and had her personality traits.

The people of Appalachia built this country by working the coal mines and steel mills, and in a very real sense never benefited in the wealth they helped create. In Country brings this out, by telling the story of of some of these people. During the Vietnam War, the press many times focused on either the heroic volunteer, or soldiers from our city ghettos, and left out the stories of the many men from rural areas who made sacrifices.

After having the film on Laserdisc for some time now, I recently saw it priced on DVD for $6.00. It IS an underrated film, and I challenge anyone not to choke up in the final scenes at the Vietnam War Memorial,

I love this compelling drama of self-discovery, partly because I was an extra in it as a nine-month-old baby on holiday in New York with my parents!!! (I'm afraid I was on the cutting room floor this time, but watch out for a flash of red hair in the soldier's graves scene and tell me if you do!!!). English rose Emily Lloyd (known to all you 'Only Fools and Horses' fans as the daughter of Roger Lloyd Pack, who played Trigger) convincingly portrays a young American woman attempting to discover the father she never really knew. Bruce Willis does a real turnaround from the characters we are used to seeing him play, as Lloyd's rather crazy uncle Emmet. I'm not a patriotic person, especially since I'm from Northern Ireland and not the U.S., but the stories of the forgotten men who made the ultimate sacrifice for a cause which in the end was not worth it, is still tragic and heart-wrenching for me. A real human story.

"In Country" is what soldiers called being in Viet Nam during the war, thus the title of this 1989 film. Emily Lloyd, an 18-year-old English actress credibly plays Sam (Samantha) who is being raised by her uncle (Bruce Willis) while her mother (Jane Allen) lives elsewhere in Kentucky. Sam wonders about her father, who was killed in Viet Nam right before she was born. She found old letters of his to her mom, and this sparks her interest in finding out more about him. The film ends when she finds his name in D.C. at the memorial.

I was drafted in 1968, and only a medical disqualification kept me out of Viet Nam. I'm certain that some of my college buddies, and ROTC mates, went and never returned. For us who remember those times this is an especially meaningful film. It is slow moving in many places, but well-done and perhaps deserving of a bit higher rating on the IMDb.

This is one of the many older movies now being released as budget DVDs. It sold for under $6. It is very basic, no extras, no surround sound. Still, the picture is very true, in fullscreen, and the sound is above average. Includes some good Bruce Springsteen.

Although this movie isn't well known - I happened on it by accident one day.

I must say that I was very pleased with the whole thing. The character Bruce plays is one for my generation. We lost a lot of fine young men and women in the Viet Nam War and Bruce as Emmett was so real.

It's a different kind of movie for Willis but it shows his true talent and emotional commitment to this character that I found solid. This movie is a have-to if you enjoy Bruce Willis.

Anyone can do a loud, shoot them up movie but it takes real talent to bring to life a sensitive and emotional person to life. The raw, bleeding memories that he shows is so real you'd think Bruce really saw action IN COUNTRY.

See this movie!!!!

"In Country" is a film that, to me, gets better with each viewing. Bruce Willis' portrayal of Emmett, a troubled Vietnam veteran, seemed right on; and if he's done any better pure acting, I'm not aware of it. I strongly disagree with a couple of the negative comments on Emily Lloyd's performance in the film. I thought she was quite outstanding as Emmett's inquisitive niece, Samantha, who was searching for answers about her father who had died in Vietnam. As for why monotonic Winona Ryder wasn't selected for the role of Samantha (as mentioned in a prior comment) now that WOULD have been a drab, annoying performance as far as I'm concerned. There were also fine supporting performances from Joan Allen, Kevin Anderson, etc.