Joe Cushnan says that three essential films about the Vietnam War, now issued on DVD, show how it was opposed by many of those who fought it
AFTER four decades, the Vietnam War still provokes controversy and debate. Now three documentaries, newly re-released on DVD by Stony Road Films, show that a even a supposedly civilised nation like the United States can produce evil, malicious political and military individuals on a par with so-called enemies of freedom across the world.
At the core of all of these films is testimony from soldiers who were present in Vietnam, either participating in or observing many incidents of torture and barbarism, and who decided to tell their first-hand accounts, most of which were suppressed or denied by the US government.
It is difficult, but not impossible, to watch a fired-up Jane Fonda and a feisty Donald Sutherland in FTA, the rediscovered 1972 anti-Vietnam War documentary, because nowadays we see Sutherland as a veteran, much-respected, calm character actor, while Fonda – the former “Hanoi Jane” to her detractors – among other things, we also know as an advertiser of face cream. But all those years ago they were using their fame and talent as the mainstays of a travelling troupe of performers – “the show the Pentagon couldn’t stop”) – to disseminate their fierce opinions on aggressive US foreign policy to groups of disgruntled American soldiers stationed in locations in and around the Pacific Rim.
This was Fonda and Sutherland in their Oscar-winning Klute era – she fresh from her Barbarella phase and he from his triumphs in MASH and Kelly’s Heroes. They were both in their 30s, but seemed to relish being involved in a surge of younger generation energy and passion for protest.
The movie pieces together episodes from their travelling revue of jokes, skits, protest songs and sermons, with strong contributions from ordinary soldiers. In a way, the documentary succeeds in showing a rather civilised and entertaining method of performing and getting across objections to the conflict. It also is easy to see how such a film, with its star participants, could have irritated then President Richard Nixon and his political and military elite with its attitude of “Fuck the army” and exposure of discontentment among the troops.
FTA disappeared after just a week in cinemas in a sinister vanishing act. This reissue has curiosity value because of its Hollywood ingredients, of course, but it deserves its place in the archives as a quirky record of the edginess of Americans at home and abroad about a nasty, unwinnable war.
Sir! No Sir! is subtitled “The suppressed story of the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam”. It highlights the strength of anti-war feeling that existed among serving soldiers. There is stark contrast between accounts of personal pride, integrity and hope as they began their military careers, with genuine allegiance to the American flag and a sincere passion when it comes to defending the honour of their country, and the reality of their war experiences. As one disgruntled marine memorably puts it in the film: “I was doing the job right, but I wasn’t doing right.”
According to Sir! No Sir! there was growing discontentment with what was increasingly being seen as an unethical, repulsive overseas conflict. There was horror at stories of US troops engaging in torture and other atrocities in the battle zone. From a base in San Francisco, the protest movement took root and produced propaganda directly dropped from aeroplanes onto army bases to attract more anti-war followers.
To give the story some scale, in 1968, there were more than 500,000 American service personnel in Vietnam. This was a staggering number of people, to which must be added the South Vietnamese on the American side and the Viet Cong who opposed them. This was war on an epic scale. As a further illustration of this the Pentagon registered more than half a million desertions of US soldiers during the course conflict. Dissent was real and rife.
The bloody and bizarre scenario included the US government’s preferred measurement of success – namely, the scale of the Viet Cong body count. It looked like a strange mathematical measurement, devoid of humanity, but it seemed to be politically advantageous at home, especially as the “kill” statistics were manipulated upwards.
The GI movement against the war thrived and rallied considerable support through its “coffee house” venues across US. There were strong feelings that, on every level, the US government deliberately designed plans to pursue the destruction of the Vietnamese people. The film emphasises the alleged criminality of the US government. The fact that these accusations came from frontline soldiers makes this documentary all the more powerful. As the world’s most powerful nation, America yearns for global respect. However, if the accounts in this film are to be believed, it should hang its head in shame.
Winter Soldier is the most powerful of the three DVDs because it concentrates entirely on soldiers’ recollections of the war. The consensus from their stories is that US Army recruits were trained, drilled, bullied, humiliated and frightened into becoming cold robots of war – killing machines with nothing else on their minds but the desire to “wipe out” anything that moved in Vietnam. If that meant innocent civilians, too, including children, then so be it.
In the film, One former soldier recalls the final briefing before he left for the war when his unit leader brought a rabbit into the hall and, just as the room full of soldiers were laughing at the fluffy bunny, the leader broke its neck, skinned it and threw its innards all over the audience. As the ex-soldier put its, this was an unambiguous message to go and do the same thing to the Vietnamese people.
The testimonies here show that, regardless of what they were before they were killed, all Vietnamese corpses were counted as Viet Cong. In some instances, killing was a game – with soldiers told to bring back proof that they had eliminated “the enemy”. Trading cut-off ears for base-camp beers was not an unusual practice.
Winter Soldier recounts the 1971 public inquiry into war crimes committed by US forces in Vietnam. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War group had organised the Winter Soldier Investigation, where more than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed. The accounts here are graphic and emotional, delivered with matter-of-fact honesty and humility, both chilling and real in equal measure. Although the media attended the event, almost nothing was reported in the American press. This was probably because the truth was not wanted at that time.
Today, anyone interested in how the lessons of war were not learned should watch and absorb the eloquent and dignified way these soldiers tell their stories. While this is an unsettling and unforgettable experience, it is, of course, nothing compared to what they themselves saw and did.
