VIETNAM WAR FILMOGRAPHY Media Room, Addlestone Library (updated 5/28/09 by Cathy Evans)

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1 VIETNAM WAR FILMOGRAPHY Media Room, Addlestone Library (updated 5/28/09 by Cathy Evans) DOCUMENTARIES A Biography of America (series) VIDEO 3220 Tape 12 (pt. 23) (60 min.) Includes 30 min. segment: The sixties: Vietnam and civil rights The Camden 28 (2007, 83 min.) DS N4 C Camden, New Jersey, summer, Protests against the Vietnam war are spreading across America. A group of 28 non-violent activists plan to break into a local draft board office and destroy records in an attempt to strike a blow against the 'system.' But a mole has infiltrated their operation and within hours of beginning their mission they are rounded up and arrested by the FBI, under the personal authority of J. Edgar Hoover. Featuring a treasure trove of archival materials as well as interviews with members of the Camden 28, witness for the defense Howard Zinn, and a former FBI agent involved in the case, this awardwinning documentary uncovers an astonishing story of political dissent. Chicago 1968 ( min.) VIDEO 2778 Explores the atmosphere surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Insight into factors contributing to events is provided through interviews with writers, politicians, anti-war activists and historians. The Dean Rusk tapes / Southern Center for International Studies (1985, 30 min. each part) VIDEO 1719 These tapes comprise five series produced from interviews conducted by Edwin Newman with former Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Series Three: The war in Vietnam (in three parts) Part 1. Vietnam: the unclaimed war. Part 2. The American descent into Vietnam. Part 3. Vietnam credibility and collective security. Do you remember Vietnam?: a report by John Pilger (2006, 52 min.) DS P In 1978, three years after the fall of Saigon, John Pilger went back to Vietnam to find out what had happened under the new regime. He talks with a young tour guide at a war crimes museum who had been imprisoned in the infamous US tiger cages. He follows a former North Vietnamese soldier into the underground base where he spent 20 years crawling through tunnels undetected. He visits the street in Hanoi that was the target of the largest single aerial bombardment in history. And he shows us the re-education camps where former drug addicts, prostitutes, South Vietnam soldiers, and others are being taught what to think. And he reminds us of the long history of Vietnam's wars for independence. 44% of Vietnam's forests have been decimated, poisonous chemicals have produced babies with deformations, 58,000 Americans and 2-5 million Vietnamese lost their lives. First kill (2002, 54 min.)

2 DS559.5.F Documentary about the line between good and evil, focusing on the contradictory emotions that war evokes, such as terror and anger, but also seduction, fascination and excitement. Includes interviews with journalist and author Michael Herr, war photographer Eddie Adams, and other Vietnam veterans. They discuss their aversion and attraction to war and killing. These interviews are juxtaposed with scenes from the war and images of young Vietnamese and foreigners in present day Vietnam who continue to show a fascination with the war and its memory as they tour former battlefields. The fog of war: eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara ( min.) E840.4.F The story of American politics and military policies as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, under President Kennedy and President Johnson, Robert S. McNamara. McNamara is a controversial and influential political figure. He offers a candid journey through some of the most seminal events in contemporary American history. He offers insights into the 1945 fire bombing of Tokyo, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the effects of the Vietnam War. Link online link to teachers guide: 45/85: America and the world since World War II/ ABC News (1986, 53 min. each part) VIDEO 1509 In this series, Peter Jennings and Ted Koppel, ABC-TV news correspondents, guide viewers through four decades of American foreign policy. Part 3 includes a segment on the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Part 4 includes a segment on the Vietnam legacy. The good war and those who refused to fight it (2000, 57 min.) D810.C82 G This documentary is about WWII Conscientious Objectors, but includes a segment on their role in guiding the anti-vietnam war movement. Guerrilla wars, 1973 (1998, 60 min.) U240.G Talks about how small groups of dedicated men could organize revolts that eventually would bring down large well-equipped governments. Tells about the Cuban revolution, America's futile struggle in Vietnam and the Soviet Union's equally unsuccessful attempts to control Afghanistan. Hearts and minds (1985, 112 min.) VIDEO1271 Examines the American consciousness that led to the United States' involvement in Vietnam. Includes interviews with General William Westmoreland, former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, Senator William Fulbright, Walt Rostow and Daniel Ellsberg. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature of Maya Lin: a strong clear vision (1995,98 min.) VIDEO 2769 Portrays the career of Maya Lin as an architect/artist as told by her and others, with special focus on the design and emotional impact of the Vietnam Veterans and Civil Rights Memorials. Winner 1995 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

3 Peace is every step. Meditation in action: the life & work of Thich Nhat Hanh (2005, 142 min.) BQ974.H37 P Leading Vietnamese Zen teacher and author Thich Nhat Hanh has had a profound impact on contemporary thinking and, importantly, social action. His efforts to achieve an early peaceful end to the American war in Vietnam earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a forty-year exile from his homeland. Peace Is Every Step is an intimate and direct portrait of a monk who has lived through war and fought back with meditation, love and grace under fire. Includes rare archival footage of his peace work in Vietnam during the war. Pete Peterson: Assignment Hanoi (1999, 60 min.) VIDEO 3115 A former POW returns to Vietnam as U.S. ambassador on a mission of reconciliation. In 1966, at the age of 31, Pete Peterson was an air force captain whose 67th bombing mission over North Vietnam ended when he ejected from his damaged jet. Captured by local farmers and delivered to the Viet Cong, Peterson spent six gruesome years in captivity at the infamous "Hanoi Hilton," half the time in complete isolation. Three terms in Congress later, Peterson made a remarkable decision to take the Clinton White House up on its offer to appoint him America's first postwar ambassador. Documentarian Sandy Northrop chronicles Peterson's enthusiastic return to the land of his former enemy and his many efforts to help the country achieve its goal of attracting foreign investment. The quiet mutiny (2006, 26 min.) DS P In this, the first of his 58 documentary films, John Pilger combines candid interviews and amazing frontline footage of Vietnam to portray a growing rift between the US military bureaucrats -- "lifers" -- and the soldiers who physically and mentally fight the war on the ground, the "grunts." By 1970, it is an internal sense of disillusionment and frustration born from this rift that is triggering the withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam. As the US employs psychological warfare against its enemy, Pilger finds himself unable to glean significant information from the military. And so it is with the grunts, the "wheels of the green machine," that Pilger finds a very human side to the US presence in Vietnam -- soldiers who are at once ready to serve their country and doubtful of their purpose there. Plied with visits from Miss America and ignored by Vice President Spiro Agnew, they experience the war in a way many of their superiors do not. Filmed at Camp Snuffy in 1970, The Quiet Mutiny presents a character study of the common soldier during the Vietnam War, revealing for the first time the shifting morale and open rebellion of Western troops. Rebels with a cause (2003, 109 min.) LB3610.R Uses archival footage and interviews with activists involved to trace the history of Students for a Democratic Society through the 1960's. Growing out of student involvement with the black civil rights movement in the South, SDS grew quickly with the escalation of the war in Vietnam. Regret to inform (2000, 75 min.) DS559.8.W6 R In this film made over ten years, filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn took a pilgrimage to the Vietnamese countryside where her husband died. She and translator (and fellow war widow) Xuan Ngoc Nguyen explore the meaning of war and loss on a human level. The film weaves interviews with Vietnamese and American widows into a vivid testament to the legacy of war.

4 Sir! No sir (2005, 84 min.) DS U6 S Recalls the unprecedented movement by American GI's against the Vietnam War, staged through demonstrations, underground newspapers, combat refusals and more, rocking the foundations of the American military. Includes archival material and interviews with key participants. Two days in October (2005, 90 min.) DS558.T Examines the critical events that took place in the fall of 1967, from the ambush of an American battalion by the Viet Cong that led to skepticism of whether the Vietnamese conflict was winnable, to the first violent anti-war demonstration on a campus in Wisconsin. Note: Based on the book "They marched into sunlight" by David Maraniss. Special feature: "Black lions return" - survivors reunite decades later ; "Where are they now?" ; "The flag"- eyewitnesses discuss what the American flag means to them. Unfinished symphony: democracy and dissent (2001, 59 min.) F74.L6 U This highly philosophic documentary explores the events that led up to the Vietnam Veterans Protest of May 28-31, Also includes original footage of returned soldiers, some disabled, who set out to retrace Paul Revere s original freedom ride. Over 400 were arrested (then released) in demonstrations on Lexington Green. The final segment shows a U.S./Vietnam dialogue in 1997 Hanoi. United States history video collection (c. 1996; 2003, 29 min. each part) E178.5.U Vol. 23: The Vietnam War Vietnam, a television history (2004; 4 discs 11 hours total) DS557.7.V Disc 1: Roots of a war; America's Mandarin, Disc 2: LBJ goes to war, ; America takes charge, ; America's enemy, Disc 3: Tet 1968 ; Vietnamizing the war, ; Cambodia and Laos. Disc 4: "Peace is at hand," ; Homefront USA ; The end of the tunnel, Vietnam: In the year of the pig (1985, 103 min.) VIDEO 1187 Made in 1968, in the midst of the antiwar movement, this documentary examines the nation of Vietnam and vividly portrays the war's most brutal battles, including thetet Offensive. Vietnam: In the Year of the Pig covers French colonialist rule right through to the United States' involvement in the war. The footage contains powerful and unforgettable images, including clips of the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire to protest the war. (description from Vietnam nurses with Dana Delany (2006, 45 min.) DS559.5.V This documentary reveals the emotional story of the women whose lives were forever changed by the casualties of war. What they saw, what they did, and what it cost them is a true tale of American heroism. For the first time, Vietnam nurses describe the

5 horrors they witnessed, the care they provided and the emotional scars they earned. These are the unheard voices of the mothers, daughters, sisters, wives and friends who lost their innocence to war but never lost their heart. The war at home (1979; 2003, 100 min.) DS U6 W Nominated for an Academy Award and widely considered one of the most important political films ever made, this documentary chronicles the anti-war protest movement of the 1960s and 70s. Based on events in Madison, Wisconsin, the film provides an illuminating look at the home front of the Vietnam War the war that students and other anti-war dissidents waged on America s political and military systems. Through a powerful combination of rare archival footage and interviews with students, community workers, Vietnam veterans, and participants from all points of view, The War at Home shows how the anti-war movement grew into a genuine peoples revolt in tandem with the escalation of war in Vietnam. Warriors (1987, 58 min.) VIDEO 2943 Native Americans interview Native American veterans of the Vietnam War. The film presents some unique insights into why these Indian men went to war, situations they fought under, and what life was like for them when they returned. (review at Red Eye Video) Winter Soldier (1971, 2006; 95 min.) DS559.2.W Vietnam veterans speak about atrocities committed upon Vietnamese soldiers and civilians during their time in the U.S. armed forces in Vietnam. Through testimony given at the Winter Soldier Investigation held by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1971, press conferences, and interviews with individual participants, the film graphically portrays the effect of U.S. government policy and practice, which turned soldiers into machines bent on destruction and Vietnamese into "gooks"--non-human "targets" for murder, rape, and mutilation. The veterans struggle to come to terms with the devastation they caused so that others will not make the same mistake again. Winter Soldier has been called one of the most powerful anti-war films ever made and remains to this day a remarkable plea for peace. Note: The Winter Soldier Investigation was held in Detroit, Michigan on January 31, February 1 and 2, (Produced in association with Vietnam Veterans Against the War) Year zero: the silent death of Cambodia: a report by John Pilger (1979, 2006; 52 min.) DS554.8.P This documentary comprises the first complete report of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge and the devastating affects of US bombing in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It is an important and historic document of the grim reign of Pol Pot and the world's response of indifference and inaction. Year Zero was 1975, the end of the secret US bombing campaign against the Viet Cong that saw 100,000 tons of bombs dropped over Cambodia, and the emergence of the Khmer Rouge party as a ruling force. That year saw the desertion of the capital of Phnom Penh and the displacement of some 2.5 million people, the majority of whom would soon go missing. Pilger explores the roots of the US bombing campaign that began in 1969, contrasting it sharply with powerful footage of sick and starving Cambodians and interviews with relief workers with UNICEF and the Red Cross as well as imprisoned members of Pol Pot's regime. At the time of its first broadcast in 1979, Year Zero was for many the first glimpse of a harrowing injustice that had been played out with little fanfare. John Pilger lays bare the entire chain of events, from the removal of King Norodom Sihanouk to ensuing famine and genocide under the Khmer Rouge. The film is both disturbing and poignant, a sobering portrait of Cambodia's recent history.

6 FEATURE FILMS Apocalypse now (1999, 153 min.) PN1997.A A United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War. Based on the story, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. The deer hunter (1997, 183 min.) PN1997.D Tracks a group of steelworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the coal hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnam. It is a drama of friendship and courage and of what happens to these qualities under stress. Full metal jacket (2001, 116 min.) DS F This Vietnam war drama begins with a depiction of the brutality of Marine Corps training and then shifts to Vietnam, focusing mainly on a group of Marines responding to the Tet Offensive of Platoon (1988, 120 min.) VIDEO 3349 Platoon is the story of every soldier whose innocence was lost in the war torn jungles of Vietnam. A young soldier in Vietnam discovers that his enemies are not just the Viet Cong, but fear, physical exhaustion, and anger within himself and others. Based on the first-hand experiences of director Oliver Stone. The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972; 1983, 85 min.) VIDEO 1171 This motion picture is based upon the play by Father Daniel Berrigan, and draws heavily on the court proceedings of this famous trial of anti-vietnam War protesters. The group raided the offices of the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, and burned some of the files in May Two of the protesters included Father Daniel Berrigan and his brother Father Philip Berrigan. We were soldiers (2002, 138 min.) DS W Lt. Col. Hal Moore is the commander of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry. As part of the Pleiku Campaign of late 1965, Moore is assigned to action at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, an area known to be overrun by North Vietnamese troops and nicknamed "The Valley of Death." Moore soon finds himself and his men contained to an area about the size of a football field, surrounded by more than 2,000 enemy troops and engaged in the first major battle of the war. Heroism becomes the order of the day as the men refuse to yield, in spite of heavy losses of life. Note: Based on the book, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway.

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