'Going Upriver': not just campaign film

[JI7]

<If ever a film seemed to come with the kind of expiration date you find on dairy products, Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry would appear to be it. But many of the things that look obvious about this new documentary turn out to be anything but.

And because the movie, based on Douglas Brinkley's book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, was put together by Kerry loyalists, it's been confused in some quarters with a Kerry campaign film. Such suppositions, it turns out, are some distance from the truth.

And, for those still twisting in the wind about the Swift boat incident, interviews with the people whose lives Kerry saved don't leave much doubt that something valiant was done. If it weren't for Kerry, gunner's mate Fred Short says tartly, "I'd be on a wall somewhere."

But it is one of the paradoxes of Going Upriver that it does not fill you with partisan zeal. Rather, it puts you in a reflective, even melancholy mood, triggering the consideration of broader questions of where our society has gone and where it still might be going.>

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-to.upriver01oct01,0,804096.story?coll=bal-artslife-movies

[WildEyedLiberal]

1. I own it - it's a great movie

And when I saw it, I strangely didn't think about politics or the election at all; just about what a strong and honorable man John Kerry is. And how damn cute he is, too.

[JI7]

2. i think i will get it and watch it then

i haven't watched it and after the elections i didn't really feel like it because i just thought it would hurt too much.

but reading this review of it and seeing your response confirm it doesn't really bring up thoughts of partisan politics or the election i think i will get it and watch it.

[LittleClarkie]

3. I cried

It was a good thing I was alone in the theater, because I bawled.

It just seemed so true, and so close to what we were going through. Even the pictures were the same. And then when Kerry gets to his famous line, I couldn't help but think Iraq instead of Vietnam, and I lost it. And this after having heard parts of that testimony before.

It was also touching seeing Max Cleland all whole in one picture. That poor guy. I could have strangled the local dj here who started singing "B-double-E-double-RUN" in regard to Max. Damn it man, that's not funny. And this coming from a guy who tried to bend over backwards to excuse the soldiers in Abu Ghraib, saying none of us knows what it feels like being a soldier in Iraq. True, but none of us knows, unless we were there, what it felt like to be in Vietnam either. So to me it's the same, and if you're going to support the troops in the one instance, then you damn well better support them in the other instance as well.

Max was the first Dem whose military service I heard a Republican make fun of. It's okay to not support the troops if you can identify them as Democrats apparently. No wonder I got so livid when they then attacked Kerry in August. Damn hypocrites!

Anyway, I agree. It's more than a campaign film, though it works exceptionally well as a rebuttal to the Smear vets. I own a copy too. It's on loan to a manager of mine who wanted to see it too ('cause she's a Dem too.. hee hee)

[JohnKleeb]

7. exellent soundtrack too

It was moving to me, I felt so bad for him though, the guy knows what its like to lose a friend in war.

[seito]

4. I also own the DVD

I have watched it several times. I am now reading "Tour of Duty" by Douglas Brinkley." The book gives you even more insight into the events that molded John Kerry into the person he is. Here is an passage from "Tour of Duty" taken from a letter that Kerry sent home to his parents.

"It is strange. One can talk and talk about the meaning of war and the dangers and the horrors and all the sensations that a man has when he gets near the possibility of dying. But until you actually sense them somewhat, you do not really know what you are talking about. And once you have sensed them, you tend not to want to talk about them at all. That is how I feel now."

John Kerry was forever changed by Vietnam. He saw first hand the best and the worst of human nature. He came home and put his future on the line to fight to expose the reality of Vietnam and to bring our soldiers home. He will never abandon this fight, not when our government is again betraying the trust of those that have answered the call to service.

[TayTay]

8. A truly interesting time

I read "Tour of Duty" after the election. (I am a history buff and I wanted to read the book on it's own merits, so I waited until after the election.)

What is interesting about the book and about Butler's film, "Going Upriver" is how it shows the real pain of what happened in Vietnam. Kerry was doing his duty when he enlisted and, while he had qualms about the rightness of the cause, he still wanted to do the honorable thing. Then the slow confirmation that he was not serving in an honorable cause and that all the idealism in the world couldn't change that. That war was a moral outrage and a mistake and the solution, at the time, was to throw even more troops into the cause. (Creepy parallel to Iraq anyone?)

And that he was lied to, repeatedly and to his face. He knew some of the people who architected that war and believed what he was told. And the Yalies and Harvard guys who served in the JFK/Johnson administration, who were after all, from the world he travelled in, who betrayed the servicemen. And that the fact that America 'lost' Vietnam was the fault of the guys for fought it and that those same folks were abandoned by their father's generation and their government. It's so sad, what a horrible thing to go through. (Creepy parallel number 2 anyone?)

And the nearly lawyer like way that he opposed it. He assembled the facts, deemed a correct course of action and pursued it, with both head and heart. Fascinating stuff.

[seito]

10. I am only about half way through

I am finding it so eerie. The parallels between 1968 and today.

John Kerry heeded Kennedy's call to service. Although he questioned our purpose in Vietnam, he was determined to do his duty. As you watch the movie, or even more vividly as you read the book, you can see the changes in the young officer as his suspicions are confirmed. He was willing to bear any burden, and allow that burden to impact upon his soul. He took pains not to shield himself from the realities of the war, but to absorb all of it and learn from it.

He left for Vietnam with the hope that Bobby Kennedy would be elected President, only to face the tragic reality of his assassination and the election of Richard Nixon. How hopeless it must have felt at that point. I can't help but see the similarities between what John Kerry faced in 1968 and what our soldiers face now.

Today, soldiers and sailors are heeding our nation's call to arms, many against their will. The government has once again betrayed the trust of those individuals as is woefully apparent from Rumsfeld's latests comments in response to soldiers concerns about lack of proper equipment "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

Once again the idea of "free fire zones" rears its ugly head and we are engaged in another country's civil war. Instead of stopping the spread of Communism, the new mantra is spreading freedom.

John Kerry will not relent in this fight.

[New Earth]

5. is there any way to buy the movie?

i can't pay for anything online though :( anyone know if it's been released for retail at all??? i wanna see it so bad!

[WildEyedLiberal]

6. I got mine at Barnes and Noble for 19.99

B&N lets you order stuff even if they don't have it in stock, unlike electronics stores, so that might be the way to go.

[seito]

9. Here you go

I did a little search, and this appears to be a good link for "Going Upriver"

http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0%2C39025604%2C39089439s%2C00.htm

Here is the PBS special that compares the lives of Kerry and Bush. It was highly recommended by some Kerry supporters in the election forum. I have not had a chance to watch it yet.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2004/

[WildEyedLiberal]

11. That Frontline doc was really good

I definitely recommend that also. It shows the parallel lives of Kerry and Bush, just the facts - anyone who watches that cannot deny the vast difference in morals, character, and honor between the two men.

[VTdem]

12. Another Going Upriver owner here

It's an awesome movie. I made my non political friends sit down and watch it with me. It actually convinced a couple of them to go vote.

[New Earth]

13. by the way, i found an exact link for the ENTIRE Going Upriver

http://www.kerrysupport.com/upriver/index.html

watched it last night and was left speechless, tears in my eyes, lump in my throat and MORE FAITH in John Kerry. Amazing.