10 Years since the Last Launch from American Soil. ‘Born on the 4th of July’ Film Review

by Laura Lai/Review

This month last year I was posting on this Writing Blog the entry ‘50 Years after Apollo 11. Armageddon’s Film Review’ (1). It was the 50^th anniversary since Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins made the first man’s step on the moon. It was also the 50^th anniversary since an American President (Richard Nixon) made the first phone call to the moon – extraordinary events made possible by the initiative of President J. F. Kennedy to increase NASA’s budget by 300 percent.

            I thought then – for the sake of this Writing Blog – to try an original ‘writing experiment’ and correlate these historical events to the review of the film ‘Armageddon’ (with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck) – whose action also takes place in the space. This enjoyable ‘writing experiment’ to me, must have been ‘odd’ for some lectures, but otherwise not original, others might have raised an eyebrow and, hopefully, smiled – one thing I’m sure: nobody got harmed!

If I had to repeat the ‘writing experiment’ this year, I would probably need to somehow correlate the dynamic of the current U.S. Administration on the space issue to the movie ‘Born on the 4^th of July’ (directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise, 1989). I would have done this in more details if I could see the movie again on YouTube, but it is not available. In this drama war Tom Cruise plays the role of Srg. Ron Kovic wounded in the Vietnam War and son of a WWII veteran. The life story of Srg. Ron Kovic is a tremendously dramatic story. The movie has several heartbreaking scenes and I remember Tom Cruise having made a sensational role in the wheelchair – it is recently that I found out that he practiced for this role a year before. No wonder that for this role he got a Golden Globe and a nomination at the Best Actor by the American Film Academy.

This year is again a reason to celebrate the space. The American Space Force – recently established by President Trump as the sixth branch of the U.S. Military – got a new flag that was displayed this year at the White House (2). Furthermore, a video call was made by the current president … not to the moon (at least not yet!)… but to the International Space Station, in order to congratulate two American astronauts, Cristina and Jessica:

 

‘We’re thrilled to be speaking live with two brave American astronauts (…) during their spacewalk outside the International Space Station. They are conducting the first ever female spacewalk to replace the exterior part of the space station’. (3)

The First Lady, Melania Trump hosted in February 2020 a Family Theater Evening playing at the White House the movie ‘Hidden Fingers’ – presenting the valuable contribution of the African-American women to the NASA project. (4) On the occasion of a visit made by the Vice-President Mike Pence to the Langley Research Center at NASA he said:

 

‘Here at Langley Research Center (NASA) you broke a color barrier as well and all of America celebrates. You all know, we are all standing at the home of the legendary ‘Hidden Fingers’ – African-American women known as human computers, who despite the injustice of working in a segregated facility lend our nation their incredible intellects and talents (…).’ (5)

         Last but not least, at the end of May 2020, a new launch was made from American soil: SpaceX. It was the first launch after less than ten years (6). All this time, the Americans relied on the Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonour Cosmodrome, for which only last year the Americans paid almost $100 million for a seat. ‘This launch will also signify one giant leap towards the Trump Administration’s goal of securing American dominance in space’ (7) said the U.S. Vice President on the occasion of the SpaceX launch from Florida.

The moon has always fascinated people from astrologists, to medical doctors, musicians, etc (for a fascinating summary click here). Presidents could make no exception. Therefore, the U.S. President Donald Trump is determined to make America greatly returning to the moon by 2024, have a first woman astronaut to make woman’s first step on the moon and to have a constant human presence there by 2028 from which further space exploration to be possible. And to where the U.S. President can make the first … collect phone call to the moon!