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  • Operation Last Patrol
  • Mathew J. Bartkowiak
Operation Last Patrol (1972) Frank Cavestani & Catherine Leroy, Distributed by Cinema Libre (www.cinemalibrestudio.com) 60 min.

In August of 1972 convoys of cars filled with members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War trekked across various parts of the United States converging on the Republican National Convention in Miami. One of those drivers, Ron Kovic, a disabled veteran, who served two tours of duty eventually came to serve as Hollywood's iconic representation of the difficulties faced by veterans on their return home. Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July (1989) was based on Kovic's personal narrative (he also co-wrote the screenplay) of the same name and seemingly he inspired 1978's Coming Home. This documentary is the story of Kovic and those vets on their journey to find a moral and political voice in a country debating the parameters of patriotism at the time.

A valuable document for classrooms that are examining the home-front battles of the Vietnam War era, the film provides rich insight into the experience of soldiers in Vietnam as well as at home. The viewer joins the cavalcade as it makes its way across the country, where each car's occupants candidly discuss their experiences in Vietnam and what has inspired them to make the trip. Stark reflections on death, killing, drug-use as well as harassment faced when returning home are shared in interviews done in the isolation of each vehicle. In these traveling confessionals, a sense of isolation is discussed by the vets themselves, in respect to their country and also within the [End Page 92] anti-war movement itself who managed to call them "killers," even as they asserted a voice of condemnation for the War. The poignant feelings of anger, guilt, and frustration concerning their country's continued role in Vietnam and the reception they have faced at home are balanced by the vets with a overwhelming sense of brotherhood that is displayed when coming together for this "last patrol."

The film pays homage to films portraying the counter-culture of the time with Easy Rider vistas Woodstock-esque shots of communal bathing and festival-like life on the road. Some of the most telling scenes occur when the group joins with numerous other convoys upon reaching the streets of Miami. Here, a joyous fraternity meets and celebrates the convention of a diverse grouping of individuals linked by the promise of making their voices heard in the national consciousness. "Smash the spectacle" reads one vet's shirt; as assumed by the organization, such proclamations and actions resulted in harsh reprisal at the Convention's gates.

The protesters were met with barbed-wire barricades, a large police force, tear gas and numerous arrests. Here Kovic, as he was for the predominance of the first-half of the film, becomes the focus of the narrative for the filmmakers. Charged with intense emotion Kovic asserts that "Our brothers are being brutalized and broken in the streets and they are being killed in Vietnam right now!" The film's closing shot of Kovic in the convention hall disrupting the proceedings leaves the viewer unsure of the fate of these men and how well their voices would be heard. He screams, "Do you hear me when I say that I am in pain from this war?" with the camera eventually withdrawing slowly; a voice diminishing as the convention proceedings overcome the sight and sound of Kovic's protest.

Of course, the ramifications of the War on these men would play itself out over the coming decades. The film offers an immediate and emotionally charged sliver of time where one can see the parameters of these discussions regarding the veteran experience taking shape. Voices of support, condemnation, and confusion are all incorporated in a film that actively investigates the concepts of patriotism, protest, and the role of the veterans' voices in American life.

Mathew J. Bartkowiak
University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County
bartko11@msu.edu
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