Wednesday, October 7, 2009
hearts & minds
Hearts and Minds uses a combination of raw emotional footage along with powerful commentary to articulate to the audience one simple message: stop the war. Throughout the documentary, uncut images of the atrocities of war are shown to the audience. These images are composed of bullets to the head, human flesh burnt by napalm, and a series of beatings. The very sight of this graphic footage will cause anyone to stir with emotion. Especially the scene where a little boy grieves uncontrollably at the coffin of his father. You can't get any more tearful than a child mourning the loss of one of his parents. It's real and pure and you cannot do nothing else but feel sympathy. The commentary from both sides of the conflict serve to explain what each side was feeling during the war. A vast array of opinions are presented, but the overall sentiment is clear which is the Vietnam War should've ended sooner than it did. It was obvious when Robert Kennedy gave his speech about how this war has lasted longer than it needed. The war has been dragging on due to the lies and policies the previous commander in chiefs fed the American public. Together, the imagery and stories combine together to form a visual essay for its viewers. The arguments lie within the scenes and I think one of the best scenes is where the Vietnamese father lashes out against Nixon for his daughter's death. He says, "Give this shirt to Nixon because my daughter can't wear it anymore. She's dead!" You can see the father break down into tears as he tries to make sense of what this war has brought upon him. This scene is a mash up of politics and emotions that shows the audience the daughter's death is as pointless as this war that's going on.
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Phillip, this blog post outlines the documentary very efficiently from top to bottom. The documentary gave the American audience a legitimate look to what was truly occurring on a daily basis in Vietnam, as well as what the people who participated and those who were effected felt about the war. The example that was shown and that you listed about young boy grieving at the sight of his dead father is one of many heart wrenching shots that allows the us to sympathize with the Vietnamese. Another example that I felt was very effective in your post was the shot of the Vietnamese father ranting at Nixon about his dead daughter's shirt. The American government seemed to be incredibly heartless and relentless towards the Vietnamese people through these examples and the others provided in the documentary. The disapproval of the Vietnamese, some soldiers, and the United States of America should have sent off a signal in our leaders minds that something was not right.
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