This 1974 documentary has been reissued and is playing downtown pittsburgh at the Harris theater (on historic Liberty ave). It won an academy award (Frank Sinatra presented the award and added that he thought the film was "unpatriotic.") It provides interviews with a former POW, veterans (many of who are disabled), government officials (Senator Fulbright, General Westmoreland, Clark Clifford) and Vietnamese officials. (Here is a great link about the film and who appears in it). Contrast is provided with film from Vietnam: the destruction of villages; interrogation of suspected viet cong; execution of vietcong suspect by chief of police of Saigon, children burned by napalm (the famous picture of the young girl Kim Phuc, burned by napalm, and President Nixon speculated that the picture was staged ) , and depressing visits to whorehouses - the film is exhausting to watch, very emotional. My only problem with the film is that it portrayed Lt. George Coker, a POW for 7 yrs, as kind of mindless: Lt. Coker survived the POW camps, including 3 yrs of solitary confinement, beatings, torture and an escape for 12 hrs - his patriotism kept him going, and one can only wonder how and if someone who has that endurance can develop a different perspective on the war - could he live with himself if he came to the conclusion that the war, his imprisonment, was pointless? Watching it in 2005 brings to mind comparisons with Iraq. The main difference, is that Vietnam was a hot war during the cold war, and pitted US vs USSR backed forces. In Iraq, the insurgents don't have the backing of a world superpower; nonetheless, imposing structure upon a country with military force is futile in the face of opposition from a guerrilla or terrorist insurgency. I think Pres. Bush would have pursued a different policy with Iraq had he not sat out the Vietnam war at an airport in Texas. Perhaps not. Anyway, watching Hearts and Minds was a grim way to spend a sunday afternoon, but I wanted to preview the film for my political film class. I was struck by how divisive American society was during the Vietnam war, and how we have entered that divisiveness again. I really don't think that Cheney-Rumsfeld learned anything from Vietnam.
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Sounds like an interesting movie. I saw Hotel Rwanda, which was kinda similar but different of course. It takes on a more of viewer friendly approach but still shows the horror that took place and wide spread terror. How could 1 million people be killed in 100 days, 800,000 killed in genocide alone, while the western powers knew what was going on and just sat back and watched. There is another film coming out about Rwanda that takes more of a similar approach as the film heart and minds seems to take. The story of 'Sometimes in April" is based on interviews the director had with people in Rwanda: soldiers, teachers, people in the government, survivors all of them - true stories.
http://www.hbo.com/films/news/
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