Coming Home

Coming Home (1978)
Director: Hal Ashby
Cast: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Robbert Carradine
Memorable Line: "Nobody has the right to tell anybody what do against their will if they don't believe it."

Coming Home is a creative and engaging movie with a polemic hidden beneath it. It's not heavy handed, but the anti-war message is loud and clear.

Sally (Fonda) is the "stand by man" wife of a Marine captain (Dern) left behind when the captain finally gets to go off to a his war -- which just happened to be Viet Nam. A passive women, Sally for the first time is on her own and left to find her way. To find meaning while her man is away, she decided to volunteer at a V.A. hospital. While there she strikes up a relationship with a former high school classmate only to have the relationship move from platonic to romantic as she grows and changes. Things get sticky when her husband returns from the war and try as she likes, she finds it hard to return to her life and what she once was.

While the protagonist is Sally and Fonda's performance is one of her better ones, the performance of the film is Voight's. Voight performance resonates with a subliminal sadness and an overt anger. Dern also steals the stage when he's on screen.

Ashby directing career has been uneven, but Coming Home is one where all his talent seems to come together. Using a combination almost documentary approach and traditional dramatic technique, Ashby creates a very real portrait of a turbulent time. The film has some very real and poignant moments.

If you're looking for a real gem that may have seemed like it has receded into the past, give Coming Home a chance.