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In Cadence ,
Martin Sheen directs his son Charlie in a military war of wills.
Cadence is a story about a rebellious white recruit befriended by African American prisoners in a West German Army stockade. Laurence Fishburne is the cell block boss. Martin Sheen(besides director) is stockade boss.
This is a movie that works on all kinds of levels. First of all, Vietnam is just heating up. It is 1965.
Private Franklin Bean(Charlie Sheen) is an emotionally lost young man; he is struggling to put things right in his life and with his Dad, but his Dad dies before he can. Somehow, the Army is all part of the plan.
After the death of his Dad, Bean spirals down and is thrown into the stockade (jail) for 90 days. He's stubborn and unyielding; the stockade boss(Martin Sheen) is determined to break him. In the course of his attempts at breaking this upstart young soldier, the stockade boss(Martin Sheen), a senior noncommissioned officer, comes emotionally apart and Private Bean learns a life lesson.
Lessons About The Draft In Cadence?
Cadence is a movie about race relations. The military has always been ahead of society in dealing with issues of racial integration.
This movie is a good example of how the draft military not only dealt with issues of race relations but also with institutional racism. Private Bean(Charlie Sheen) was a young, stubborn soldier who just wanted to get by, live, and let live. He faced the challenges, won over the black charges with whom he lived; and, in the course of events, he found himself. A good movie to watch with Iraq in mind.
The participants in this movie typify the "draft" Army. The movie doesn't deal with issues like, What am I doing here? How did I make this choice? It just was. In this draft Army, there were all kinds, sharing the collective experience.
This movie deserves at least 3 parachutes.
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