2017 Directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick
An immersive 360-degree narrative telling the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. Featuring testimony from nearly 80 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.
The Vietnam War: A Film By Ken Burns & Lynn Novick
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Stacks the deck uncomfortably in favor of an underlying sense of American decency and good intentions being corrupted, rather than these intentions being calculated from the get go. Frames US as an unwilling (The Tonkin "retaliation") aggressor and gives too little focus to the overwhelming human cost of North Vietnam. So as powerful as some of its retellings are, and as bluntly anti-war as that might convince you it is, it's far too preoccupied with restoring American dignity for me to ever really give a shit.
Pretty much just as galvanic and reorienting as THE CIVIL WAR, except it's not Shelby Foote waxing lyrical over antique photos, it's a grunt talking about taking a hill, then a cut to footage of that actual guy taking that actual hill. Put this in the Smithsonian, a total monument.
What do people really want from a documentary?
I've watched a lot more documentaries and documentary series the last couple of years, and from reading the reviews of others, people seem to be extremely set in their ways as to what they expect. There are those who want objectivity and balance, and there are those that want the truth.
I sit firmly and solidly in the second camp. Quite honestly, I can't connect my thoughts to the first. There are some subjects where such elements are justified, perhaps. But The Vietnam War? Oh come on. I don't give a shit about balance when it comes to a documentary series about this conflict, nor the history before and after it, which…
I'd seen a few Ken Burns documentaries before I immersed myself in his latest magnum opus. Of them all, Prohibition was probably my favorite, but the one that stuck with me was The Civil War. It was expansive, moving, and resonant, but it did have some problems that nagged at me for a while. The documentary's emotional impact was lessened by the lack of witness testimonials-- in their place, letters written by Civil War soldiers were read by the narrator. The result was somewhat dry, and it deadened the blow of what was being said. There was no working around this problem, and it was clearly not Burns' fault. But part of me wanted more.
With The Vietnam War, that…
I've been working on the 10-part series since about 12/23/18. Because of the holidays, I just finished it this morning.
There are interviews from soldiers, soldiers' family members, and the Vietnamese set against a perfect soundtrack. The quality of the series is something you'd expect from Ken Burns. I was definitely emotionally moved, especially since the war was so unnecessary.
Vegan alert:
-People would tickle fish to make their eggs fall out.
-Turkey was served for a 1967 Thanksgiving dinner.
-A doctor was given condensed milk.
-A soldier cut off the head and paws of the cat (of the camp commander) and decided to eat it, but got caught. One of the soldiers had to wear the cat around his neck for a week as punishment.
-A man talked about fish in the river, water buffaloes and people dying.
Vegan points:
A dog saved a veteran from killing himself.
Valuable, in some ways, for giving a sense of the swirling and calamitous nature of the post-war era in this region of the world and those moving and moved by it—from the French colonists, to the protagonists in the Vietnamese Civil War, to ultimately the U.S. military and executive powers. Has, indeed, some import as well—in some "objective" sense—in giving time to or acknowledging the existence of dissonant views of the war internal to the U.S.A. and those positions held by the North and South Vietnamese respectively. However, its dialectical means of negotiating this typhoon of views of and on violence proves distinctly Right Hegelian and liberal in the classical sense. The tagline for the project, at least on Letterboxd,…
an 18 hour therapy session, mostly for americans despite an admirable effort to be even-handed and include many vietnamese voices. less interesting as a coherent or even vaguely nuanced political statement (lol) and more compelling as a massive multimedia document that touches almost every major fragment of the conflict to varying extents. pretty much tailor-made for american high school AP history classes, which isn't the worst thing in the world tbh.
the music in it sure goes hard though, great stereotypical vietnam-vibe playlist.
this 20 hour masterpiece posits the question ‘war (HUH! GOOD GOD!) what is it good for?’
well, after finishing it i can answer: ‘absolutely nothing’
Momentan in der ARTE-Mediathek abrufbar!
Diese sehr ausführliche 9-teilige Dokureihe, die aus Archivmaterial und Interviews besteht, beschäftigt sich mit dem gesamten Ablauf des Vietnam-Krieges, inklusive der Vorgeschichte und den Nachwirkungen und konzentriert sich dabei auch auf den politischen Kontext. Mit zum Teil entlarvenden Folgen, nicht nur für die US-Politik unter Nixon. Die Doku schafft es aber meiner Meinung nach kritisch, aber auch respektvoll und ebenbürtig auf beide ehemaligen Kriegsgegner zu blicken und auch die Geschichte und die Sicht der Vietnamesen abzubilden. Auch schön, dass beide Seiten, die vietnamesischen und amerikanischen Stimmen, gleichermaßen zu Wort kommen. Zudem ist "The Vietnam War" ein eindringliches Plädoyer für Menschlichkeit und übt auch Kritik an der Behandlung ehemaliger Vietnam-Veteranen und Protestlern in den USA.
"The Vietnam War" ist DIE Chronik zum Vietnamkrieg. Politisch entlarvend und hoch brisant, unparteiisch und komplex. Dabei bewegend, erschütternd, mahnend und historisch hochgradig interessant.
It is ironic how the most anti-war piece of propaganda is simply footage of war itself.
And that’s what Ken Burn’s and Lynn Novick’s newest nearly 20-hour long documentary seeks to showcase. That, along with every other conceivable facet, aspect, view and fresh horror of the war. Never before has a filmmaking opportunity as monumental as The Vietnam War arisen. That is a pretty bold statement, but it’s true. Journalists and soldiers often under fire themselves, captured hours upon hours of active combat, from the perspective of mostly The United States, but also perhaps surprising to some degree, the ARVN (The South Vietnamese army) and the Viet Cong.
The result, collected here by Ken Burns and co is undoubtedly some…
Americans kill You in war, then they make a movie about how much they suffered doing it.
