Should you watch Hearts and Minds?
Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.
Hearts and Minds
Documentary · 1974
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
The sides of Hearts and Minds
- Interviews with generals and veterans
- Vietnamese villagers after the bombing
- The Vietnam War filmed while it was still going on
Hearts and Minds is good for you if…
- you want to see what the Vietnam War did to the people on both sides.
- you like a film made in the middle of the events it shows.
- you like seeing official speeches set against what happened on the ground.
Hearts and Minds is bad for you if…
- you can't watch real footage of napalm and wounded civilians.
- you find seventies footage dated.
About: war · propaganda · guilt
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