Memoirs and The War (1994)

Jon Avnet's movie, The War, was created in 1994 and is loosely based on a memoir about a young girl growing up in the south after her father returned from the Vietnam War. In the movie, Lydia is a twelve year old girl writing her memoir for school. Memoir is simply a written reflection about a time in a persons life. Lidia focuses much of her memoir on her father, Stephen, and her brother, Stu. Both men have extreme conflicts, internally and externally, throughout the film. While she is writing, Lydia gets the chance to look back on these conflicts and learn for them. Lidia is able to see that war makes people do crazy things that they may regret their entire lives but simple acts of kindness may be able to solve conflicts. 

Growing up in a poor town in Mississippi, Lidia and brother have an ongoing war with the Lipnicki family. The Lipnicki's are the poorest family in town and considered the lowest class. Lydia and family are also struggling with money but they aren't as bad as the Lipnicki's. The Lipnicki kids are abused and uncared for by their drunk of a father. The older boys take care of the younger ones. Stu and the boys don't get along in the slightest. They are always trying to start something with the other. The day Stu and his father go to auction the Lipnicki's start a big fight. Stu and Stephen are driving to the auction house to place a bid on a house but the car keeps stalling. The whole Lipnicki family, drunk father and all, are behind them and begin rear ending them. Stu gets angry and starts yelling at the Lipnicki's. The kids yell insults back and forth until both fathers park their cars. Stephen doesn't want a fight but Stu is too angry to resist one last insult directed at the Lipnicki's father. He becomes enraged and starts towards Stu with a tire iron. This is where Stephen steps in. With his training from the military, Stephen grabs the Lipnicki father, drags him to the ground, and hold his neck in such a way he could snap it in an instant. The fight is over between the fathers now but the Lipnicki thugs aren't done. They corner and beat up Stu. Stu fights back until his father comes and takes him away. "I can't tell you never to fight, Stu. But if you want to know what I think, I think the only thing that keeps people truly safe and happy is love. I think that's where men get their courage. That's where countries get their strength. That's where God grants us our miracles. And in the absence of love, Stuart, there is nothing, nothing in this world worth fighting for" (IMDB). Stephen tells Stu that fighting will not solve his problems. As they leave the auction house, Stephen takes the two cotton candy's he had bought for Lydia and his wife and gave them to the two youngest of the Lipnicki's. The kids were shocked by the kindness. So much so that they were no longer mad and seeking revenge. 

Stephen is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He has nightmares and suffers from PTSD. PTSD is an internal conflict. In Stephen's case, he is battling his guilt from Vietnam. While in battle, Stephen had a great friend. The two of them went through boot camps and everything together. During a night raid, Stephens right hand man was injured. Stephen fought to get the two of them back to the helicopter and then back to camp but he couldn't. When they reached the helicopter the soldier on board told them they could only carry one more passenger. Stephen yelled and even held the soldier at gunpoint but they were both going to be left behind if he continued. Stephen was afraid and didn't want to be left behind. His friend was dying next to him. Stephen went to his friend and told him 'go with God'. His friend closed his eyes and Stephen boarded the helicopter.  "Boy, sometimes all it takes is a split second for you to do something you'll regret the whole rest of your life" (IMDB). Stephen couldn't forgive himself for what he had done and that's how he got PTSD. His inability to focus, flares of anger, and reoccurring nightmare all came from his internal battle of guilt. Stephen has to live with that guilt everyday, but on one of his last days his internal conflict is lessened by an act of kindness. Stephen goes to work at a water plant with one his new friends, a black man. While the two of them are working in a cave, part of the cave collapses. There is a giant rock on top of Stephens black friend's legs. The friend tells Stephen to get out before he gets hurt too but Stephen refuses. Many of the other workers would have left the man for dead because of his skin color but Stephen know that no one person is better than the other. Stephen gets a large stick and proceeds to wedge it under the rock. Using his whole body weight, Stephen is able to lift the rock up enough for his friend to wiggle out from underneath. Stephen refuses to let one of his friends die while he stands by. Part of his guilt dissipated when he saved his friend. Stephen was resolving part of his PTSD. 

When Stephen dies from his accident at work tensions run high. Stu feels lost and angry. He ends up running away to the tree house his friends, Lidia, her friends, and he had built earlier that year. The group of kids had conflicts with the Lipnicki's over the tree house prior to this point but after the last dare the Lipnicki's promised to leave the tree house to them. Unfortunately, they broke that promise. All of the kids who worked to create the tree house are sitting in the tree when the Lipnicki's appear below. This time a dare or a fist fight isn't going to cut it. Both sides bring out real weapons. Stu breaks into his father's old war supplies including smoke bombs, face paint, and flairs. The Lipnicki's steal some of the flairs and set the tree house on fire. They also find a tractor to help their side of the war. The tree house is being destroyed and everyone is getting hurt but none of them are able to see how out of control it has gotten. "War is like a big machine that no one really knows how to run and when it gets out of control it ends up destroying the things you thought you were fighting for, and a lot of other things you kinda forgot you had" (IMDB). The youngest of the Lipnicki's, Billy, runs to the water tower where the key to the tree house door is. Stu runs after him and the rest of the kids follow. By the time the kids reach him, Billy is on the old roof above swirling water inches away from the key. He falls through and is unable to swim through the current. Stu jumps in the water and barely manages to get Billy out of the water. However, Billy is stone cold and not breathing. Stu and Lydia slap, yell, and perform CPR to try and save him. The Lipnicki's have given up hope. They are trying to make Stu stop and let Billy go in peace. Finally Billy takes a breath. Stu and Lydia were able to save Billy's life and stop all future conflict with the Lipnicki's. They could have stopped and let Billy die but they didn't.

War makes people do some terrible things and causes huge problems later on. Lydia was unable to see the craziness while she was living these experiences but looking back she understands. When living in the moment it is nearly impossible to step back and gain some perspective of what's going on around it. Lydia was unable to see the destruction and hurt all around her. She also didn't see the impact of kindness. All of the little things her father and brother did made the conflict lessen.