text: Not being a movie aficionado, I am not familiar with the names of leading Directors, Scriptwriters, Producers and the like, but I can tell an outstanding movie when I see one.<br /><br />The makers of this fine movie could well be now at the top of their fields, or may well get there pretty soon. I know that the actors are already there.<br /><br />It takes talent closer to genius to show with such realism how a national tragedy like Vietnam has impacted the everyday life of a typically average American family, and make us see at close range why there are so many homeless Vietnam veterans.<br /><br />Without getting into gratuitous scenes of gore and bloodshed, it makes us understand why so many youg men had flashbacks of what they had been thru.<br /><br />The dialog is particularly gripping, and gives us an idea of what went on in so many families in the aftermath of Vietnam.<br /><br />I wish there were more good movies like this one, not just about Vietnam, but about other social conditions as well.