Charity's Place

THE WAR

REVIEWED BY MELINDA LAV

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: thematic elements, language

Rated:

It is the summer of 1970 and to some of the kids in rural Mississippi it’s war. Brother and sister Stu (Elijah Wood) and Lidia Simmons (Lexi Randall), along with their friends, battle for territory and rights to a large tree house against the crowd of Lipnicki kids, a rough bunch who have no mother and whose father is abusive and negligent. The Simmons family themselves has their own troubles. The father (Kevin Costner), plagued by post-traumatic war syndrome from Vietnam, is the absent father when he has to spend time in a mental hospital. When he gets out he struggles with holding a job and providing for his family, while attempting to rebuild relationships with his wife and children who are yearning to welcome him back into the family.

Paralleling the father’s embittering experiences in the war, his children face many of their own trials in how to deal with their own enemies. Their father, while trying to deal with his past, attempts to impart in his children morals and rules of conduct, teaching them through example and words that violence and anger are not always the best way to deal with situations. He also tries to impress in their minds that “sometimes all it takes is a split second to do something you regret the whole rest of your life” before Stu and Lidia make their own mistakes. Along with these lessons, issues of racism, friendship, peer pressure, and death are dealt with.

The tree house, which serves as the portal of the movie, was constructed by Stu, Lidia, and their friends as a summer-long project. But things don’t go as planned when Stu and the Lipnikis discover that the materials were stolen from the Lipnikis’ junk yard. Stu, wanting to follow his father’s good example, tries to deal with the situation in a peaceful and fair way but ends up having to swallow more than he bargained for, and in the process has his bravery, honesty, and courage tested.

This film, though, seemingly focused towards a pre-teen audience, is rated PG-13 for war sequences (the father has flashbacks of his time in Vietnam) and language. It is disturbing that most of the swearing is spouted off by the kids. There is also some verbal innuendo and sexual references made (some by the children) that were there to imply how rough life was. The kids also smoke, drive underage, steal, and participate in some other illegal activity, and most of the time do not get caught or reprimanded for it. Moreover, God was put down several times or spoken about in a joking manner.

The acting talent was on a wide scale. A remarkable performance was put out by the lead, Elijah Wood (13 years old at the time), and Kevin Costner. However, most of the other kids in the film (save Lexi Randall, who was fairly decent) acted in The War as their first, and not surprisingly last, film. Overall the film’s plot was rather lacking, the story dragged on too long, and the scenes repetitive and predictable. The movie’s main message was a good one, but was emphasized too many times. So unless you’re a fan of Elijah Wood or Kevin Costner, and don’t mind the frequent language and rough lifestyles, leave this movie on the video rental store’s shelf.