I don't know why Francis Ford Coppola thought he had to make another film about Vietnam after he had made the best possible with "Apocalypse Now", but with this film he definitely destroys a part of his reputation as being critical about the United States' role in the war. The problem of "Gardens of Stone" is that it is not uncritical, but seemingly critical. It all seems as if Coppola would use the dead soldiers' bodies or Anjelica Huston's role as an excuse for saying: "Hey, I know that maybe not everything was alright, but you have to do what your country asks you to." This movie is so obsessed with the military and tries so hard not to decide whether it's for or against the war, that it doesn't even notice, that it already has decided with its blind patriotism and denunciation of the peace movement. Rarely have I seen such a laughable characterization as it is done here with Anjelica Huston's "peace activist". Not one of the highlights of Coppola's career.
Review of Gardens of Stone
