Heartbreaking Minds

Wow. This movie was absolutely aggressive. Released in 1974, Peter Davis did a good job laying out the absurdity in the United State's involvement in Vietnam. By watching Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, I figured I knew what the Vietnam War was about, but this documentary opened my eyes more to other aspects and opinions about the war.

I found this movie very disturbing to watch. The images portrayed throughout the movie were extremely powerful. Like mentioned before, I try to avoid watching any war and action movies but this movie crossed the limit. This documentary is essentially a good viewing because of the power it brings out of the imagery and the lessons in which United States still needs to learn. Even after the Vietnam War ended, there are still too many ways in which that conflict is not understood, such ass the America military action in Iraq. Some scenes shown were ridiculous. Such as a solider shooting someone in the head, Vietnamese villagers being victims because their homes were burned or bombs were dropped in their village, a wife trying to get into the grave with her husband, and two sisters pained by the death of their elder sister. Davis showed us the images of brutality from the enemies of these poor people who had absolutely nothing to show for.

So why does Hearts and Minds get to a documentary level? Hearts and Minds show footage of old speeches and old military movies, and interviews with various political figures. This documentary concentrated almost solely on the inhumanity and pointlessness of our presence there in a pointless war which even our leaders were unprepared to comprehend. Hearts and Minds opened my eyes by showing me what goes on in a war and what the Vietnamese went through during this brutality. This is wasn't United State's most significant time in history but as they say, 'History repeats itself.' This documentary gave an impact that even in the years to come, there will be controversies over it.