What's there to say about a documentary which combines letters from soldiers in the Vietnam War with news clips and music of the day?
I saw "Dear America" only once, back in 1987 as a senior in high school, yet I remember it as well as movies I saw last year. Celebrities--including Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Robert DeNiro, and Michael J. Fox--read actual letters from the soldiers fighting the war with such passion, it seemed the letters were read by their writers. But somehow, the focus stayed on the grunts who wrote the letters.
The most moving and memorable was the final letter, read by Ellen Burstyn, written by a mother to the son she lost to the war. The actual letter was placed at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
It's been nearly 17 years since I first watched "Dear America." I use the video now, a lifetime later, to teach *my* high school students about the Vietnam War.
PG13: real war footage, mild language, and brief nudity. Despite the rating, less mature middle and high schoolers might see "Dear America" as just another war movie and not appreciate its importance.
I saw "Dear America" only once, back in 1987 as a senior in high school, yet I remember it as well as movies I saw last year. Celebrities--including Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Robert DeNiro, and Michael J. Fox--read actual letters from the soldiers fighting the war with such passion, it seemed the letters were read by their writers. But somehow, the focus stayed on the grunts who wrote the letters.
The most moving and memorable was the final letter, read by Ellen Burstyn, written by a mother to the son she lost to the war. The actual letter was placed at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
It's been nearly 17 years since I first watched "Dear America." I use the video now, a lifetime later, to teach *my* high school students about the Vietnam War.
PG13: real war footage, mild language, and brief nudity. Despite the rating, less mature middle and high schoolers might see "Dear America" as just another war movie and not appreciate its importance.