Whitey
Member
Maybe it's because I am viewing it in light of the accolades and adulation that Burns' Civil War documentary got, but I am kind of surprised that there isn't more discussion and praise for his most recent documentary about the Vietnam war. I just got done watching all 10 episodes, 18 hrs total. Took me about 2 weeks to get through all the episodes.
Did anyone else watch it?
I think it was really well done. It was long, of course, but it covered a remarkable amount of material. The juxtaposition of the US veterans and politicians and their South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese counterparts gave a more balanced view of the war. Most other Vietnam histories I have read or seen focused almost exclusively on the US side.
It was also not just a "war documentary". The "stateside" view of the protesters and anti-war activists did a good a job of not just painting them as a bunch of drugged out hippies but recognizing that they played an important role in getting us out of the war and keeping the pressure on our government as it dragged us deeper into a morass. The families who had servicemen & POW's in Vietnam were well represented in the documentary. If you can follow the complete story of "Mogie" Crocker from upstate NY and his family and not shed a tear, you are a stronger person than I. If I ever meet Hal Kushner (POW), I'll buy him as many beers as he wants for as long as he wants.
The tragedy of the war was, of course, the 58K US and 2-3M Vietnamese who perished and all of the wounded and maimed. But the documentary really drives home the point that the secondary and almost as mind-boggling tragedy was that every administration from Kennedy through Nixon understood that the war was unwinnable and yet we spent 10 yrs and all those lives and causalities because they thought the communists were marching to world domination. Hearing that now with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Chinese being our largest trading partners, all you can think is "tragic".
I guess this is my long-winded way of saying that I think that if you haven't done so - set aside the time to watch this. But also - am I overestimating how well it was done and maybe that's why there isn't more buzz about it?
Did anyone else watch it?
I think it was really well done. It was long, of course, but it covered a remarkable amount of material. The juxtaposition of the US veterans and politicians and their South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese counterparts gave a more balanced view of the war. Most other Vietnam histories I have read or seen focused almost exclusively on the US side.
It was also not just a "war documentary". The "stateside" view of the protesters and anti-war activists did a good a job of not just painting them as a bunch of drugged out hippies but recognizing that they played an important role in getting us out of the war and keeping the pressure on our government as it dragged us deeper into a morass. The families who had servicemen & POW's in Vietnam were well represented in the documentary. If you can follow the complete story of "Mogie" Crocker from upstate NY and his family and not shed a tear, you are a stronger person than I. If I ever meet Hal Kushner (POW), I'll buy him as many beers as he wants for as long as he wants.
The tragedy of the war was, of course, the 58K US and 2-3M Vietnamese who perished and all of the wounded and maimed. But the documentary really drives home the point that the secondary and almost as mind-boggling tragedy was that every administration from Kennedy through Nixon understood that the war was unwinnable and yet we spent 10 yrs and all those lives and causalities because they thought the communists were marching to world domination. Hearing that now with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Chinese being our largest trading partners, all you can think is "tragic".
I guess this is my long-winded way of saying that I think that if you haven't done so - set aside the time to watch this. But also - am I overestimating how well it was done and maybe that's why there isn't more buzz about it?