How to bring joy to war - A review of 'Good Morning, Vietnam'

'Good Morning, Vietnam' is a comedy-drama that depicts the human side of every armed conflict, focusing, as the name says, on the Vietnam War. Long story short, a guy does a radio show and gets fired for joking about stuff he can't joke about.

Adrian Cronauer is a DJ for Armed Forces Radio Show in Vietnam. His job consists of telling the (biased) daily news, cracking some jokes, and playing music for the soldiers in combat. But not everybody liked his show, like some of his superiors.

Cronauer eventually gets suspended for telling some news he wasn't allowed to. While he was suspended, he took a job at a local school teaching English to Vietnamese children, where he met two kids (Tuan and Trinh), with whom he ended up developing a special connection.

After a lengthy series of events we don't care to enumerate (watch the movie), Cronauer gets his job at the radio station back. No sooner does he get back, that the trouble starts coming once more. This time, he was caught in a landmine while he was on his way to interview soldiers in the battlefield. Luckily (or not), Tuan (that boy from English class) comes to the rescue, and they end up flying home in a Marine helicopter.

Although we already gave major plot points away, we shall not reveal any further of the movie, to save the ending for those who (still) haven't watched this masterpiece.

In our opinion, Adrian Cronauer's character development perfectly illustrates the voyage one takes when learning about the atrocities done in the Vietnam War. In the beginning, Cronauer was like the next guy, a completely oblivious person who just wanted to live and let live. By the end of the movie, though, Cronauer is much more mature and understands the social implications of ideological combat. He sees all that misery his country provoked and he starts to wonder whether this fight is even worth it. He understands, through the friendships he made in school, that the innocent lives that are ruined in combat greatly outnumber the guilty ones.

Cronauer leaves a message of hope and happiness in Vietnam as he departs. His phrase "Good Morning, Vietnam" will forever be remembered as one of the most iconic phrases in Hollywood history.