The War at Home

The connection with James Dean?In a short plan ,we see Emilio Estevez toying with a teddy bear(remember the first scene of Ray's "rebel without a cause").Moreover,the main conflict is Estevez versus Sheen,father against son,as in "East of Eden".The soldier has come home,and nobody has been able to communicate with him, even his sister (a psychology student,what a derision).The mother,a crude matron (a superb Kathy Bates),gets bogged down in nougatine ,she 's not able to understand that her values (religion,family) have become a thing of the past,specially for someone like his son whose innocence was betrayed. The father ,an irresolute man ,under his wife's thumb,although he tries hard to play the macho,wanted to make up for the mediocrity of his life .So he saved his "honor" by forcing his son to do his duty.The scene in which Estevez's hatred for his father explodes is very intense.The actor-director gives a restrained performance,interiorized,as Lee Strasberg's students used to do,and his final burst of anger is increased tenfold so.

I have seen only a few films which I thought were powerful. The War at Home is at the top of the list. Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, Young Guns) stars as a Vietnam vet who just recently returned home. He is haunted by his memories. Added to this is a family that can't understand why he doesn't just forget about it and continue living. Besides this they each have their own problems which they sort of take out on him to add to his grief. His mom played by Kathy Bates (Misery, Dolores Claiborne) is always trying to be extra cheerful, but she doesn't understand why he doesn't want to talk to her or play the piano. His dad played by Estevez's real life dad Martin Sheen (The American President, Wall Street) is very dominant demanding that everyone stay by his rules in his house. Finally his younger sister played by Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride 1 & 2) doesn't see what the big deal about Vietnam was and doesn't like spending time with the family. All of this pushes Estevez farther and farther towards losing it. Kimberly Williams is good as the sister. Kathy Bates and Martin Sheen are both excellent as the parents. Finally Emilio Estevez gives an extremely powerful performance that should have received a lot more attention and praise. This film was great. It was one of the best movies I've seen in a while, which makes me wonder why it didn't get much of a release. I highly recommend it.

The one thing that struck me most about this simple movie was how the characters could not relate to the feelings that the principal character Jeremy felt. An isolation, a feeling of despair, a sudden irrational fear of circumstances, a guilt feeling of "Why me?" This movie was not a financial success and could not be. It gives an all too true expression of the mixed psychological emotions felt by those who know the Nam experience.

My one thought for you is to watch this movie and try to understand these feelings that too many of us experience in life and our dreams continually. Perhaps this can help heal us all.

The cast is beautiful and I was quite shocked to learn that Martin Sheen's son had directed it. The biggest shock to watching this movie is to learn that it is not entertaining. That is not a condemnation but rather a description.

The only unreal part were the scenes of war.

"The War at Home" was a labor of love for director/star Emilio Estevez, and the care he took with this story is evident on screen.

Adapted for the screen by original playwright James Duff, the film focuses on Jeremy Collier (Emilio Estevez), a veteran of the Vietnam War who is deeply scarred by his experiences. Jeremy's family can't understand his pain or deal with his erratic behavior. On Thanksgiving Day, each family member reaches their breaking point.

The cast is just about perfect. They look, sound, and act, like a family; albeit one that is struggling mightily. Real-life father and son Estevez and Martin Sheen are great opposite one another (look for Estevez's sister Renee and daughter Paloma in small roles). Kimberly Williams also does quite well as Jeremy's sister Karen, and the amazing Kathy Bates virtually inhabits Jeremy's mother Maurine.

One of the most striking things about "The War at Home" is the domesticity of it all - a real sense of a family trying to keep up appearances - which is so well-established that the film's explosive finale is all the more shocking. This is a different and very effective presentation of a Vietnam veteran's experiences. Don't hesitate to check out this movie, which should have received more attention back when it was released.

This film easily rivals the emotional strength, the dramatic impact and the top-notch performances of "12 Angry Men". I rented it on a whim and was amazed that I had not heard of it before.

I do not know if this was Emilio Estevez's directorial debut, but the pacing, the interplay and development of the characters as well as the some clever camera work surrounding the character Estevez plays all suggest a natural eye.

The interplay between Martin and Emilio contains the same wonderful chemistry we saw in Wall Street with Martin and Charlie. Kathy Bates is wonderful in her characters subtle desperation and escapism; a variation on her characters in "At Play In The Fields Of The Lord". She is irritating and yet one can empathize with her at the same time.

There are some moments where I feel the plot slows a touch and the moments between Estevez and his ex-girlfriend almost seem written for another film, Estevez comes off as another character all together. But those are minor complaints.

This film must be based on a true story or must have been written by someone who lived these experiences. I rate it 8 out of a difficult 10.