Combat Shock

Frankie runs alone through the Vietnam jungle, and his voiceover reveals that he returns to this war-ravaged landscape every night. The scene establishes the trauma that haunts his present life. It foreshadows how past violence intrudes on his family.

He wakes in a rundown New York apartment beside his wife Cathy and their deformed infant son. The couple argues about unemployment and the baby’s health, and Frankie blames Agent Orange for the deformity. The moment blends memory with the hard reality of his domestic life.

Frankie waits in line outside the unemployment office as a junkie desperately searches for a needle. A random woman nearby steals the junkie’s gun and ammunition when opportunity presents itself. The encounter foreshadows the violence that will come later.

Inside the office, Frankie learns there is no work available. A social worker urges him to go back to school to gain marketable skills. He reveals he has been unemployed for four months.

He calls his father to ask for money, but is dismissed as a prank by a man who believes his son died in Saigon. Frankie explains the truth: he was reported dead 15 years ago, spent years in an army hospital, and his wife is pregnant again. The conversation underscores their financial and emotional estrangement.

Seemingly broken, Frankie corners the woman who stole the junkie’s purse. Paco and his thugs chase him through the streets, turning the street into a pressure cooker of danger. The confrontation ends with Frankie taking back the purse and facing violence.

Paco’s gang closes in and the gun falls from the bag during the beating, giving Frankie a chance to grab it. He opens fire and shoots all three attackers, killing them. The act marks a turning point as he asserts lethal control over his fate.

In a voice-over, Frankie explains his father was right: he had died in Saigon. His unit stumbled upon a village where everyone had killed themselves to avoid rape and murder by US soldiers. The memory intensifies his sense of doomed mission to 'save' his family.

He decides that he must save his family and returns home. The decision marks a shift from victim to attempted savior, even as the world around him remains broken. The film pivots toward a final act of violence.

Frankie becomes catatonic, staring at the TV as hallucinations blur reality. The house feels unreal as memories flood back and threaten to overwhelm him. The domestic scene becomes a psychological trap.

Recoiling from a Cathy hallucination, he reloads the gun and murders Cathy and the infant. The act mirrors his earlier obsession with 'saving' the family from harm through drastic action. The violence resolves his inner turmoil in the most tragic way.

He places the baby's corpse in the oven, pours spoiled milk, and shoots himself in the head. The killing and self-destruction finalize his descent into irreversible tragedy. The room closes in as the story ends.

A train passes by as darkness falls, leaving the outcome of Frankie’s story ambiguously unresolved. The film ends on a bleak, moving note that echoes the character’s perpetual return to trauma. The closing image feels like a cycle without a clear resolution.