Description
NOTE: The American Experience producers responsible for the Vietnam series recently re-edited the original 13-part Vietnam series. The editing was undertaken to remove outdated information and to create a more cohesive story for viewers. WGBH Boston Video has reduced the purchase price for the Vietnam series to $79.95 to reflect the shorter running time. A six-year project from conception to completion, this eleven-hour DVD collection carefully analyzes the costs and cons… More >>
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#1 by Richard E. Eaton on April 5, 2010 - 11:05 am
After seeing the series, one by one, and every which way, I can only come to the conclusion: unparalleled history. Only a doctrinere bigot and a mad-dog at that, would see how it tries to be balanced– any rational being would see as America’s greatest surrender and tragedy–so far–the Irag debacle is still underweigh. Of course, one is expected to read more, to not think this is the last word on the Vietnam War. How ridiculous! Previewed in 1983, no one should think there should be more evidence presented. Only in time, well-tested opinions and with all the evidence in, can a clear perspective be seen of the whole. I lived in that era, the Nixon era to be exact, when I understood what was happening. Before which, in my teens and brought up in rural Maine, I thought America could not be wrong, the government was right, Communionist were evil haters of our way of life. When I understood, I was against. But I was not all the way, my disagreement was fully conditional. It was Watergate and finally Reagan that made me see my intuition against the Vietnam War was right. It was not a good feeling. I did not want to think it was all in vein. I did not want to accept the inevitable. This documentary is the best balanced visual history of its kind on a post-WW2 (cold gone hot) war, from the first misunderstand to the last revisionist spin.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Matthew J. Reardon on April 5, 2010 - 1:59 pm
Those of you that might suspect that a glowing NY Times endorsement would ineluctably imply a pleasingly treasonous grossly anti-American bias and that claims to “balanced” reporting accords every sympathy and benefit of the doubt to the enemy will most definitely not be disappointed. Needless to say the “peace accord” that gave the North Vietnamese carte blanch to wage a unrestricted terminal war against the SOL South Vietnamese is accorded its usual high praise. Ironically enough President Johnson is the embattled sympathetic patriot juxtaposed to the compliant Nixon complicit with Congressional cowards who shamefully desserted our ally to the mass murders, tortures and other heinous barbarities of the communist dictator “liberators”. Its truely one of the most disgusting chapters in American history. This along with the near defeat but ultimate celebrated stalemate in the Korean War marks the beginning of perversion of American values wherein treason is patriotism, cowardice is bravery, moral fatigue is virtue, weakness is strength, and defeat is victory.
Nonetheless the combat footage is interesting, depicts the undeniable brutality of war (similar to the unbelievable yet conveniently uncovered brutality of the carnage on our highways – to both humans and animals – yes you know as well as I, the dismemberments, decapitations, immolations, and disembolations).
Most of the combat footage, unintentionally, no doubt, actually shows our soldiers as good and brave men. Never will I forget the footage of our weary grizzled soldiers firing away at the enemy during the hectic days of the Tet offensive. I saw some of that footage as a child and despite liberal anti-war parents and what to me even at that age was a brazenly biased evening new anchor, Walter Concrete, it made an indelible heroic impression on me. I wanted to be a soldier and I wanted to fight in VietNam.
Since the narrative and production bias in this series is so patent as to laughable if the subject were not so serious, it is to be recommended for its cinematographic flair alone.
Matt Reardon
Rating: 4 / 5
#3 by benjamin kerstein on April 5, 2010 - 3:15 pm
This has to be one of the most flagrantly biased and dishonest documentaries ever to air on American television. It is a non-stop marathon of philo-totalitarianism, apologetics for tyranny, whitewashing of mass murder, and outright lies, such as claiming the Khmer Rouge were American supported. (They only recieved American assistance when they were out of power and a small part of an ad hoc group of armed bands harassing the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia; during their oft-denied – by anti-war leftists like Noam Chomsky – autogenocide of millions of their own citizens, the Khmer Rouge were squarely in the communist bloc.) There is an excellent overview of some of the – failed – attempts by other filmmakers to provide balance or rebuttal to this ugly piece of work in the book PBS:BEHIND THE SCREEN, which is highly recommended to anyone who wants an objective look at how public broadcasting conducts itself. This film is more than bad, it is a morally vile apologia for the tyrannical subjugation of an entire country and the murder or exile of well over a million people, and the demonization of those – American and Vietnamese alike – who sought to prevent precisely that eventuality. This film is the moral equivalent of Holocaust denial, and ought to viewed as such by anyone who watches it.
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by Steve K. on April 5, 2010 - 5:38 pm
after reading the other reviews about censorship, i chose not to buy this series. too bad.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by Glora T. Anchors on April 5, 2010 - 6:53 pm
Although the series has excellent historical and combat footage, it is ruined by anti-American propaganda. The U.S. is portrayed as a loser, Vietnam Vets are presented in the worst possible light, and the comunists are constantly praised as heroes. Don’t buy this set! Try instead Vietnam: The 10,000 Day War (not out yet on DVD).
Rating: 1 / 5