Why did we go to Vietnam? What did we do there? And what did going there do to us?
Those are the questions asked by “Hearts and Minds” director Peter Davis.
At first glance, “Hearts and Minds” is pure anti-war propaganda. Upon subsequent viewing, however, it shows itself to be a truly hands-off approach to the Vietnam War.
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What Davis achieved in this Academy Award-winning documentary is a level of access not seen in today’s coverage of war.
General William Westrmoreland, commander of US forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, is shown speaking bluntly about how “orientals” don’t have the same regard for life as Westerners. This quote follows footage of a young Vietnamese boy sobbing at his father’s casket.
The director also follows two airmen as they have sex with prostitutes in a Saigon brothel. It is rare or impossible to achieve that level of intimacy in modern documentaries.
Those above questions could also be asked of any war the US is in – World War II, Persian Gulf, any of them.
One thing Davis says in the DVD’s commentary is that he wanted the film’s subjects to speak for themselves without the interference of having a narrator tell the tale. That commentary was made for the 2001 rerelease of “Hearts and Minds.”
Another technique employed by Davis is the long pause. He allows his subjects to face the camera for many seconds before cutting away. This is intimacy of a different type.
There are some surprises in the movie: presidential aides and cabinet members agree US policy in Vietnam was wrong and should have taken a drastically different path and one French official recalls how the US offered two atomic bombs to France to help it win the war in Indochina.
This film, which is captivating in its scope, provides hindsight to the war and does a wonderful job of giving everyone involved in the war (from soldiers on up) a chance to speak their minds about it.
“Hearts and Minds,” which runs 112 minutes, is a must-see for anyone interested in the Vietnam War.
Murphy can be reached at: [email protected]
