| | | What's worth fighting for?
Features: DVD, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, English, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound
It was a different time and a different place. Elijah Wood and Kevin Costner star in a rich feast for the senses from the director of Fried Green Tomatoes. This heartwarming film tells the tale of a close-knit family and their remarkable Mississippi summer of 1970. With the help of three friends, Stu (Wood) and Lidia Woodward (Lexi Randall) are determined to build the ultimate treehouse, a place of wonder and magic. Their father Stephen (Costner), a newly-returned Vietnam vet, has equally high hopes to rebuild his life and fulfill his family's dreams. Co-starring Mare Winningham, The War will captivate all who fall under its spell. It's a film rich with humor, nostalgia and mesmerizing performances. It is, in the words of the National News Syndicate, a "must-see movie."
"One of the best films of the year." Jeffrey Lyons Sneak Previews, ABC-TV
"...must-see movie." National News Syndicate
"Costner is quite effective as a veteran who has seen enough of war." Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
In the summer of 1970, Stephen (Kevin Costner) returns to his family in Mississippi after a stint in the Vietnam War, his emotional and psychological scars leave him depressed and alienated, while struggling to overcome the nightmare of post traumatic stress disorder. His wife Lois (Mare Winningham) becomes the one forced to struggle to keep food on the table, working grueling double shifts as a waitress and forced to rely on welfare. And his children, Stu (Elijah Wood) and Lidia (Lexi Randall) have it no easier: they're caught in a battle with a group of neighborhood bullies over a tree house that they built out of junk to be a safe haven for their friends, while trying to escape the pressures of school and life in a small Southern town. Ironically, these small-town hostilities are what finally help Stephen come to terms with the larger war he fought in Vietnam. And as he tries to communicate his personal philosophy about violence to his son Stu, the two create a bond stronger than any they have ever had before. By summer's end, both Stu and Lidia gain a new respect for their father's beliefs of peace and understanding as they discover the startling insights into themselves and the world around them.
| Features | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Subtitles: English | | English/French Tracks | | English 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital | | Production Notes | | Theatrical Trailer | | Web Access | | Interactive Menus |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 12/28/2004 |
| Running Time: 126 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1994 | | Catalog ID: 20533 | | UPC: 00025192053320 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC] | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Young Star Award (1995) | | | Elijah Wood, Nominee, Best Performance By A Young Actor In A Drama Film |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...[Costner] is effortlessly appealing, and [Wood] holds up his end of the story with equal assurance....Hominy-and-homilies rustic style..." 11/04/1994 p.C10Time Magazine 0 of 10
With scenes of slow-talking good guys in the U.S. South and dead buddies on Vietnam battlefields, The War might seem the first in a bunch of (Forrest) Gumpthings hoping to replicate that film's $285 million success story. But on a smaller scale, The War is a bigger movie and, for all its weepy trappings, a more adventurous one. It hints that it will be a familiar, Stand By Me-ish rite-of-passage picture; then it explodes into a kid's version of Apocalypse Now... Sometimes The War is so noble you want to spank it. But as it spins fascinatingly out of control, the film is nevertheless secured by the four splendid actors who play the Simmons family. Costner, a daring actor in his narrow range, lets his voice and heart break subtly on every line. And the two kids are fine - full of sense, discretion and what we used to call gumption. - Richard Corliss,
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