What a beautiful film

Hadn't seen Coming Home in a long time. What a beautiful film this is. From it's dignified and detailed examination of the plight of wounded veterans, to the toll the Viet Nam war took on families, to the friendship between a man and a woman...it's really breathtaking. After years of being an ardent fan of The Deer Hunter, this one always felt like the "other Viet Nam film from 1978". Having now seen both recently, this film mines human emotions and relationships in ways that The Deer Hunter (in it's epic scope and tacit characters) doesn't seem to.
Jane Fonda, Jon Voight and Bruce Dern give such beautifully nuanced performances, and Hal Ashby's directing, which somehow feels as though it couldn't have come from any other director, even though he worked in every genre and had no identifiable visual style, is, as was always the case with him, first rate.
I started welling up at the very beginning, thinking about the waste of life and possibilities created by the war. The soundtrack is so beautiful, must have cost them a fortune, it would today anyway. The major love/sex scene is so uncompromising and passionate and tender all at the same time, we definitely would not have the guts to portray two people coming together (no pun intended) that way today. Can you imagine 2 major stars filming that scene now? No way!
For those who haven't seen it in a while, it's definitely worth a new look. As we have once again reverted to a country that will allow it's leaders to take us to a pointless, unnecessary war in a land far, far away that didn't attack us, Coming Home is a stunning reminder of what this kind of folly can do to the lives of ordinary, decent people.
Truly a beautiful film.

"What's the rumpus?"