Posted on 07/14/2018 12:04:36 PM PDT by eastforker
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides—Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. THE VIETNAM WAR features more than 100 iconic musical recordings from greatest artists of the era and haunting original music from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as well as the Silk Road Ensemble featuring Yo-Yo Ma.
(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...
If you want to watch Ken Burns, watch Ken Burns.
Just be aware: you’ll end up with a treble hook in your jaw.
The government of South Vietnam was screwed up, alienated the majority Buddhist population in favor of the minority Catholic population. Hard to win “Hearts and Minds” in that environment.
To each your own, still a very informative film and I’ll say my thoughts.
I did watch “The War” about World War II. Thought is was relatively ok, by Burns’ standards.
Burns’ movies are liberal hack jobs. He’s an America hater. I managed to gag my way through the Civil War series he did (really the War of Southern Secession).
That may very well be. Still, how many people know or knew that Vietnam was occupied by the French since the 1800’s.
If by “in name” you mean the party still maintains its monopoly on political power, its surveillance state and its coercive secret police power then you are correct.
Heston’s documentary is called:
TELEVISION’S VIETNAM and is presented in two parts: The Real Story and The Impact of Media.
Then it’s now just your typical authoritarian State that allows private ownership. But for the most part people in Vietnam are pretty much indifferent to politics and unless you make waves, the government pretty much leaves you alone.
Not ideal, but far from what you had in the Communist states during the Cold War.
Some people turn that around and say that at least Diem had some authority and when he was killed we really lost a chance to win. Hard to know what to do under those circumstances.
I didn't find the series sympathetic to North Vietnam or the Viet Cong. The focus was more that with enemies determined to lose millions of lives there was no way we could have won (without utterly destroying the country and our own reputation).
Of do pound sand - that stupid thing was wall-to-wall Leftist horsewash. They cleverly only featured battles that we had a hard time with and left out the operations where we kicked VC and NVA butt (which was almost all the time).
They also managed to completely ignore the pro-enemy American communists who were the backbone of the "antiwar" crowd. Bastards had a regular commuter services to the enemy's capital and our own government just let the treasonous swine go on uninterrupted. I love the VC flags and the Ho Chi Minh chants at the demonstrations; they'd never have pulled that kind of crap on the WW II vets.
Want to ask me about our war? Fine. I spent seventeen months in combat with some of the best young men ever to wear our country's uniform. All of the refugees came to us, not to the enemy - but don't depend on Ken Burns or any other Leftist propagandist to show the truth.
no one is listening to reasoned opinion because Burns can’t possible do anything right.
I watched the 9-11 part VN documentary years ago. Burns brings in the North explanation of tactics and effect in Hanoi like none I’ve seen. His coverage of polices in the US and SBVN seem spot on to me. I saw McNamara Fog of War and I’ll take Burns over that.
He’s soldiers comment about the battles for hills and cities is riveting. Comments from family members back home what i recall from my friends families.
His body of work is impressive from baseball to Jazz to the wars. he’s young and doing service to the country that no one has done and he is using modern technology to do it.
Conservatives pool your money and see of you can get close to what he does. Very doubtful. People are staring to die from VN and soon many testimonies will disappear. He serves a valuable service in recoding these events with actual participants.
I look forward to the next one.
But I still say, the US didn’t lose the war, South Vietnam did.
Vietnamization was never going to work.
Battlefield: Vietnam was a much better series.
Yes. Been there done that. Never watched that piece of crap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsYwdCoOIEI
Both parts of the AIM documentary are available on YouTube.
write him letter and ask him to interview you for an addendum. All him to give more opinions from conservatives. List the topics you think he omitted or glossed over. Give me the list and I’ll post it on the web sites I frequent.
was that the long series maybe 9-11 parts PBS That’s what I saw and Fog of War which was interesting but narrow scope..
“The soldiers interviewed had different experiences and different views on some of the details, but it looked like all of them ended up in the anti-war movement and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.”
They are also the same soldiers that are drug out anytime a negative impression of America’s involvement in Vietnam is needed. I know a lot of Vietnam vets who might provide a different point of view if ever asked.
The impression I get is that while the Vietnamese very much still celebrate defeating the French, they don’t talk too much about the US part of the war.
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