So I liked this one but not as much as I thought I would. It's a classic 1974 documentary (mostly argued anti-war documentary) on the Vietnam War. He does a good job of getting his subjects. He spends a lot of time stateside on the "rah-rah" crowd that encourages all good boys do their duty.
He spends a lot of time also communicating with the Vietnamese who make it plain at this point that some want the Americans there but most don't. One of the interviews that struck me was of an entrepreneur preparing for peace, the massive influx of capitalism and tourists, and prosperity. This is all done between the time the Americans are winding down, but before North Vietnam steamrolls them in '75. One has to see this footage and immediately wonder if this guy made it out or not. Maybe the Director's Commentary has something.
Because of the time of filming and the US commitment wrapping down, it's hard to get a full grasp if they knew what was coming or what the final results would be. I suppose this would hit much harder in 1974, with the anti-war movement still going on, but the full self-reflection hadn't happened yet. Other documentaries, (thinking of the excellent Ken Burns series) would do a much better job of showing the whole picture and both sides more fairly, but if you hadn't had any anti-Vietnam documentaries out yet, then this one would be pretty incredible.
As it was, I liked it. I didn't love it but I might watch the special features on the Criterion Channel.
Also, side note - in a stupid, stupid move that makes no sense to me, Wikipedia pulled it's list of movies in the Collection that I have used for years - LOL. I think it went away a week ago but the last archived copy on Archive.org is golden
List of Criterion Collection releases - Wikipedia
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