The stone garden

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Movie
German title The stone garden
Original title Gardens of Stone
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1987
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Francis Ford Coppola
script Ronald Bass
production Francis Ford Coppola,
Michael I. Levy
music Carmine Coppola
camera Jordan Cronenweth
cut Barry Malkin
occupation

The Stone Garden is a 1987 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola . The screenplay was written by Ronald Bass based on a novel by Nicholas Proffitt . The main role is James Caan as a seasoned soldier who tries to stand by the young Jackie Willow, who is initially full of patriotic ideals that are overtaken by the reality of war.

action

In the form of a flashback, the film tells the military career of the young American soldier Jackie Willow, who was transferred to the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the US Army in 1968 . This association is responsible, among other things, for the implementation of military burials at Arlington National Cemetery . The heavy losses of the Vietnam War made this service a macabre routine.

Willow befriends his superiors, Sergeant Major "Goody" Nelson, and especially Sergeant First Class Clell Hazard. The two veteran soldiers have their own opinion on the war in Vietnam; but while Nelson is officially covered with his view, Hazard despairs of what he sees as nonsensical protocol service, which he disparagingly describes as "tin soldier". He tries by all means to be transferred as a trainer to a regular combat unit, where he believes that his experience can save young soldiers from the worst. His supervisor strictly refuses to do so.

Willow, on the other hand, looks forward to a mission in Vietnam with idealism and believes that as a soldier he can make a difference. He therefore strives for a career as an officer by all means. Neither Nelson nor Hazard can change his mind, although they keep trying in different ways.

Hazard finally finds support in his relationship with Samantha Davis, a pacifist journalist for the Washington Post , while Willow meets his childhood friend Rachel Feld and finally - against the initial opposition of her father, a high-ranking officer - marries.

With his promotion to second lieutenant , Willow finally receives his marching orders to Vietnam. During his year-long assignment, he wrote letters to Hazard which clearly showed the change in his idealistic attitude towards war. Shortly before his return to the United States, Hazard and Nelson receive news of Willow's death. His funeral forms the framework for the actual film.

Reviews

The lexicon of international film sees in the “psychogram of several American soldiers who stayed at home, in whose torn inner world of experience the political and moral contradictions of the Vietnam War are mirrored” , “despite superfluous melodramatic accents, a formally dominated and complex deal with the problem of militarism without humanly denouncing its representatives. "

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that the film tries to reconstruct the atmosphere of the time and place. The characters would be shown realistically and with an eye for detail. Ebert praised the dialogues and the presentations.

Awards

Francis Ford Coppola was nominated for a prize at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1987 . The film was nominated for the Political Film Society Award for Peace in 1988 .

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

backgrounds

Filming took place in Washington, DC . The box office in the cinemas of the United States amounted to 5,260,000 US dollars .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The stone garden. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 25, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Roger Ebert, Gardens of Stone , Chicago Sun-Times, May 6, 1987

Web links