There were a lot of movies about the Vietnam War, but Peter Davis's documentary "Hearts and Minds" is an even more devastating look at the US's tragic involvement in Indochina. One of the points that the documentary makes is that racism is an essential part of militarism, as the Americans speak in the most demeaning terms of the Vietnamese. Among the other scenes are a pilot's crying after bombing a village, and Vietnamese women are forced to become prostitutes. There was no doubt that the US could no more win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao peoples in the 1960s than it could win the hearts and minds of the Afghans and Iraqis in the 21st century.
There's a scene in which Bob Hope performs in the White House right before Richard Nixon makes a speech. I always reference that scene to refute any praise of Hope. Much like how the older generation cheered on the war while the younger generation protested it, the older generation saw Hope as a fine comedian while the younger generation saw him for what he really was. Because the war mostly gets ignored in history classes, large numbers of young people today think that the war was worth it (as if there was anything to win). The racist crook Woodrow Wilson's refusal to listen to a young Ho Chi Minh at the Versailles peace negotiations set the stage for our disastrous involvement in Southeast Asia, and we're still living with the effects today. But it's nothing compared to what the Vietnamese are living with: some of the worst birth defects. It was appropriate that "Hearts and Minds" won Best Documentary Feature just as the US puppet government in Saigon was collapsing, and it's one of the documentaries that you MUST see before you die.
There's a scene in which Bob Hope performs in the White House right before Richard Nixon makes a speech. I always reference that scene to refute any praise of Hope. Much like how the older generation cheered on the war while the younger generation protested it, the older generation saw Hope as a fine comedian while the younger generation saw him for what he really was. Because the war mostly gets ignored in history classes, large numbers of young people today think that the war was worth it (as if there was anything to win). The racist crook Woodrow Wilson's refusal to listen to a young Ho Chi Minh at the Versailles peace negotiations set the stage for our disastrous involvement in Southeast Asia, and we're still living with the effects today. But it's nothing compared to what the Vietnamese are living with: some of the worst birth defects. It was appropriate that "Hearts and Minds" won Best Documentary Feature just as the US puppet government in Saigon was collapsing, and it's one of the documentaries that you MUST see before you die.