A Heartbreaking Hearts and Minds

I would have to say that Heart and Minds is a love/hate movie. I loved the authenticity of it and how everything I watched was real and unscripted yet I hated some of the disturbing things I saw.

The first thing I noticed was the use of chiasmus Coker (POW) used in his speech. I wondered how many POW's gave speeches to their hometowns and how many celebrations were thrown in their honor. I was horrified how he flat out lied to the children saying that America won the war but then again, I wouldn't know what I would say to children about a war. I found it interesting how the man in a way justified LBJ's dishonesty by saying that he did not speak under oath. It was funny how that one soldier kept telling the boy following him to go back to his "Mama-san" considering that "san" is used by the Japanese and not the Vietnamese. It really shows how ignorant and stereotypical some people can be.

It was scary how some of the American soldiers talked about bombing Vietnam. They appeared to be bloodthirsty and it reminded me of the book Lord of the Flies. In the book, young schoolboys stranded on a deserted island have a dehumanizing experience and even kill one of their own by dropping a boulder on him. This process is what I imagined to have happened to some of the soldiers. One man even mentioned that the army were brainwashing the men to kill. Several of the soldiers talked proudly when discussing the success of their bombings and how excited they were when they knew they had hit their target. I have conflicting feelings about this. I imagined myself as one of these men and felt they were justified in taking pride that they were doing their job right but at the same time, seeing all the Vietnamese with their damaged homes and crying over their dead made me feel guilty.

I enjoyed how the director chose to mix all the clips together. It really shows the contrast in views and in lifestyles between the Americans and Vietnamese. Seeing all the clips and actual footage of presidents talking made the movie more enjoyable. I couldn't believe how many bombs were being dropped and how the Vietnamese were being treated. I now see how accurate Full Metal Jacket and Platoon were. My only fear now is that this kind of thing may be happening in the Middle East and we might not even know it, just like how the Americans during the Vietnam War were being constantly fooled.