"Hearts and Minds" (Vietnam documentary)

[deutsey]

Hearts and Minds is a 1974 American documentary film about the Vietnam War directed by Peter Davis. The film's title is based on a quote from President Lyndon B. Johnson: "the ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there".[1] The movie was chosen as Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 47th Academy Awards presented in 1975.[2]

The film premiered at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. Commercial distribution was delayed in the United States due to legal issues, including a temporary restraining order obtained by one of the interviewees, former National Security Advisor Walt Rostow who had claimed through his attorney that the film was "somewhat misleading" and "not representative" and that he had not been given the opportunity to approve the results of his interview.[3] Columbia Pictures refused to distribute the picture, which forced the producers to purchase back the rights and release it by other means. The film was shown in Los Angeles for the one week it needed to be eligible for consideration in the 1974 Academy Awards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_and_Minds_%28film%29

[Archae]

1. This is a true documentary.

Just lets the people talking hang themselves with their own words.

No "artistic license."

[newfie11]

2. K&R

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. This is a historic doc that ought to be shown in every school.

and re-watched in these times.

I saw it in a small "artsy" independent theater in Seattle, when it came out, and I
was not alone leaving the theater in rageful tears.

[Victor_c3]

6. I completely agree with that

Unfortunately, the truth about war is too raw for most people to deal with. Nobody wants to hear the details about what combat and killing is all about and few people probably want to expose their children to those details. As a result, all our children are routinely exposed to is images of flag waving, sterilized news reports, and video games depicting war as fun.

I've been trying hard to talk to people about the war and nobody wants to listen to what I have to say.

I grew up in a small town of 3,500 people and when I returned from Iraq I was invited to give a talk about my experiences in Iraq as an Infantry Platoon Leader to our local Lyons club. In fact, the local newspaper even wrote an article about me and interviewed me extensively. When I started going into the details of an incident in which I found a child lying face down and still alive in a field that someone in my platoon had shot after an IED blew up on us, I was met with blank stares and dumbfounded looks. They absolutely didn't want to hear about the entrance wound, the exit wound, the kid's blank stare and cold body. This kid's little brother was there and he just sat next to his brother holding his hand and looking lost. His uncles were around and, for whatever reason, I let my NCOs zip-tie them.

The anti-war message is one that needs to get out there and it frustrates me that nobody wants to hear it. They just want to ignore it all and go on thanking me for my service and waiving their flags.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. K&R! Thank you so much for posting this!

I've never seen it...

[Victor_c3]

5. I've been working my way through watching the whole thing this morning at work

My VA docs would probably say it isn't a good idea, but so far it really hasn't gotten to me too much except for the one part where the Navy LT was talking to the young school kids about Vietnam. I would have serious problems if someone came to my children's school and spouted the crap that he was saying. I can't speak about Vietnam, but as a former Infantry Platoon Leader in Iraq 35ish years later, I wholly disagree with everything that guy said.

Pilots, although they faced a decent amount of danger, enjoy the luxury of distance when it comes to killing in war and don't get a real sense of what it is really all about on the ground in the same manner an Infantryman does. It's one thing to drop a bomb and to watch it blow up but you just move on with your day while the Infantryman gets to hear the sounds, see the sights, and smell what war is all about up close and personal.

I bet that guys like the pilot in the movie or John McCain would have a different feeling towards war had they served as an Infantryman and faced the reality of war on the ground.