One is hard pressed to think of a more devastating event in a nation's history that that of war. In the case of the United States of America, the Vietnam conflict has left scars that even today are sorely evident.
Screenwriter, director and co-producer Bill Couturie presents us here with a very real look at how this most terrible (and seemingly pointless) of wars affect the very men and women that were a part of it. Documentary footage and news reel archives have been put together to show the devastation and atrocities that occurred in Vietnam, while a plethora of movie stars including Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Ellen Burstyn, Kathleen Turner, Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe give voice to the letters that soldiers and nurses sent home to their loved ones.
Couturie has pieced together the narrative so as to tell the story of the Vietnam war chronologically from 1964-73, giving us the full picture of how the events of that time were so greatly influenced by the goings on in what seemed such a small part of the world. It also shows how politics and public opinion not only shaped but changed the course of the war dramatically.
Each individual letter, every one filled with emotion, tells the self same story of the destruction of innocent lives, of human courage amid extreme adversity, and of the way the war totally crushed the human spirit. Many of the actors do a fine fob bringing to life these haunting testimonies. The visual accompaniment only serves to double the impact of what was truly a most grievous time in the history of mankind, and serves as a most disturbing and painful reminder. Included are some spectacular images of man's awesome destructive power ( one bombing raid in particular demonstrates this) and his unrelenting misuse of it.
Over 50 000 men and women were lost to the Vietnam war from America alone, not counting other allied forces, the enemy troops, nor the civilians themselves, many of them women and children.
Saturday, May 20, 1995 - T.V.
Screenwriter, director and co-producer Bill Couturie presents us here with a very real look at how this most terrible (and seemingly pointless) of wars affect the very men and women that were a part of it. Documentary footage and news reel archives have been put together to show the devastation and atrocities that occurred in Vietnam, while a plethora of movie stars including Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Ellen Burstyn, Kathleen Turner, Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe give voice to the letters that soldiers and nurses sent home to their loved ones.
Couturie has pieced together the narrative so as to tell the story of the Vietnam war chronologically from 1964-73, giving us the full picture of how the events of that time were so greatly influenced by the goings on in what seemed such a small part of the world. It also shows how politics and public opinion not only shaped but changed the course of the war dramatically.
Each individual letter, every one filled with emotion, tells the self same story of the destruction of innocent lives, of human courage amid extreme adversity, and of the way the war totally crushed the human spirit. Many of the actors do a fine fob bringing to life these haunting testimonies. The visual accompaniment only serves to double the impact of what was truly a most grievous time in the history of mankind, and serves as a most disturbing and painful reminder. Included are some spectacular images of man's awesome destructive power ( one bombing raid in particular demonstrates this) and his unrelenting misuse of it.
Over 50 000 men and women were lost to the Vietnam war from America alone, not counting other allied forces, the enemy troops, nor the civilians themselves, many of them women and children.
Saturday, May 20, 1995 - T.V.