Cinema: War-Torn

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Nations and wars are too complex for such simplism. Hearts and Minds discounts those who were genuinely confused or frightened by Communism, and who were being used by McCarthy and his cohort. It minimizes or patronizes those for whom patriotism was more than the fatuous wearing of a flag in a lapel, yet never understood why their sons were sent off to die. On occasion, it brilliantly illustrates America's grievous misunderstanding and savage oversimplification of the Viet Nam War. But, oversimplifying itself, it dismisses those who perceived the intricacies of history, who refused to condone totalitarianism simply because they loathed our Viet Nam intervention. Historical events, like the Korean War, are soon lost in this cinematic shuffle. Attempts at temporal sequence are left to a sentimental Daniel Ellsberg and an unregenerate Walt Rostow.*

Throughout, Hearts and Minds displays more than enough heart. It is mind that is missing. Perhaps the deepest flaw lies in the method: the Viet Nam War is too convoluted, too devious to be examined in a style of compilation without comment. And righteous indignation may tend to blind the documentary film maker to his prime task: the representation of life in all its fullness, not only those incidents that conform to his thesis. Peter Davis is the talented creator of much-prized TV documentaries (Hunger in America, The Selling of the Pentagon). But these were simpler projects on a smaller screen. The subject and scope of the Southeast Asian conflict are too large for such narrow-gauge examination. Unhappily, the war has not yet finished exacting its terrible penalties and distortions. Like so many before it, the procrustean Hearts and Minds began as a warrior; it ends as a casualty.

∙Stefan Kanfer

* Rostow recently sued, unsuccessfully, to stop exhibition of the film, claiming that, through tricky editing, he was quoted out of context.

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