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"The War": Husband and Wife Are a Unit

The War is a movie about a husband and father named Stephen (played by Kevin Costner) who returns from Vietnam to 1970 rural Mississippi. He tries to raise a family and integrate back into society, but struggles with nightmares and flashbacks from his experiences fighting in Vietnam.

In this scene, Stephen needs $50 so he can get a union card and work in a mine, but he only has part of the money. His wife, Lois, says: "I have 800 Coke bottles you can have. That should give you about 35, 40 dollars at least."

Her daughter Lidia is sitting at the dinner table. "Mama, I thought you were saving that money for a…."

"Special occasion? That is exactly right. That is what this is. Your daddy just landed the best job of his life."

Stephen kisses his wife on the top of her head and leaves with his son and a friend. Lidia says: "It took you six months to save that. Now he's going to blow it on a job he'll probably lose inside the first week."

Lois turns around and firmly says, "Come outside."

One of Lidia's friends, who had been sitting with her eating, whispers, "She's busted again."

Lidia sits down on the top step of the doorway. Her mother asks, "Lidia Simmons, what is the matter with you?"

"It's you. You don't got good shoes. You hardly ever eat anything. You work all the time. That money was going to be a new chance for you. Why are you always giving your chances away?"

"Now, listen here," Lois answers, sitting down beside her daughter, "all your dad has ever done is fought to make this world a better place for us. Yes, he struggles. Yes, he has had dirt kicked in his face. All the more reason he needs our help. Now, you don't wanna help him, that's okay. You gotta follow your instincts. But I will not listen to you knock him. He's part of me. You cut him down, you're cuttin' me down. You're cuttin' down yourself."

Elapsed time: DVD Scene 6, "The Mining Job"; 00:46:40 – 00:48:52

Content: Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of human struggle and conflict

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