I am going to study Vietnam for history. My teacher wants me to watch a film about it. I need a film that is true to the real life events of the war, historically accurate and shows how the lives of the people in Vietnam were effected. Preferably low amount of violence/ gore. Please answer. Thanks.|||Full Metal Jacket
You cannot accurately speak about the Vietnam War and not present violence and gore!
The Killing Fields is about the people of Cambodia who were killed by the Khmer Rouge.|||There's no such thing as a war without gore, especially a civil war. And, the blood and the gore was part of what generated opposition to the war -- night after night, it all came into our living rooms at dinner hour on the CBS News. (Most of this footage is available.)
The series, The Ten-Thousand Day War, probably is best in terms of raw history.
There are several films re specific events. Apocalypse Now, though fiction, captures much of the conflict in the American presence. We Were Soldiers Once, and Young, with Mel Gibson is another very good and accurate film about the first major engagement in the Ia Drang Valley (pay particular attention to the words of the North Vietnamese General at the end).
The Green Berets (John Wayne) was popular but criticized (it closes with the sun setting in the South China Sea, and any geographer will tell you the sun does not set in the South China Sea). But, it does present the "pro" side for American involvement, and it's not terribly bloody.
Other places to look: Find a library which has back issues of Life magazine (the war was covered extensively by it, including some searing, prize-winning photos).|||You are KIDDING.. right.. FIRST you say you want to see a movie that is TRUE TO LIFE and then you say "Preferably low amount of violence".. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK WAR IS?.. Either you want to see MARY POPPINS or you want to see HISTORY and if you want to see something that is historically accurate and "low amount of violence" the WATCH SOUTH PACIFIC the Musical.
That was my war.. I was shot down in Laos.. anyway.. PLATOON and FULL METAL JACKET are usually considered the definite movies for what the Viet Nam war was like.. YOU DO know that war was fought over OIL and NATURAL GAS... right? The VERY FIRST companies that went into Viet Nam when relations were normalized were THE OIL COMPANIES because an estimated 78 PERCENT of the world's supply of NATURAL GAS is under Viet Nam.
Just how YOUNG and IMMATURE are you? War is a DIRTY BUSINESS and YOU PEOPLE who have NEVER KNOWN WAR are totally unable to fathom what it's like.. you want everything nice and clean and pretty and think it's like a video game when someone gets 'killed'.. you just hit reset and everyone is alive.
You don't really believe AmeriKa got into THAT WAR because they wanted to bring Freedom and democracy to the people.. that was just a big a LIE then as DESERT SCAM and DESERT DISASTER have been in Iraq... remember (O)peration (I)raqu (L)ibertationb spells OIL.|||You really cannot have a historically accurate film about war with out blood and gore, it's a dirty, and a horrible thing.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05鈥?/a>
These are some photos examining the war in Vietnam, there are some sad and gruesome photos there, but it shows how horrible it was.|||If you want a different angle check out The Beautiful Country. It is the story of a Vietnamese boy who was fathered by an American solder. He and his mother are left behind to fend for themselves. It takes place after the war but accurately shows how these children were treated. Has little violence and a great story.|||As a 9th Marine Vet of the Vietnam War I would have to say that Full Metal Jacket was a real laugher,as was The Green Berets.We Were Soldiers is fairly good and Platoon has in moments.For the most part they are just so much hype.War sucks no matter how you look at it.I'm still trying to find out where the glory was in all of it.|||By far in my opinion the best film was Hamburger Hill . It really told a story of how f***ed up it was.|||Either Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket (can't go wrong with Kubrick).|||i dont know|||I did public health research on Agent Orange in graduate school. I studied many historical books and watched many films. Usually, the films are not accurate. Most of the movies do not show Agent Orange and it ecological damage. Many battle outcomes are not revealed. Some are better than others. In my opinion, the two most realistic movies are (1) Born on the 4th of July and (2) Hamburger Hill. The first is about a paralyzed veteran played by Tom Cruise. The 2nd is about the legendary battle of the 101st Airborne in Operation Apache Snow. Although both movies are excellent, neither shows Agent Orange. Hamburger Hill also has an inaccurate ending. The South Vietnamese Army were actually the first to reach the summit rather than the 101st Airborne. General Abrams, the overall US Army commander in 1969 in Vietnam, revealed that fact in the "Abrams Tapes." Platoon is good because it is made by a real Vietnam Veteran. The village battle scenes and tunnel network are shown accurately according to some veterans. But other veterans disagree. Historically, the battle ending of Platoon really did occur. An officer in 1968 called an air drop on his perimeter after being overrun. It caused friendly fire casualties and deaths but also saved the outpost. That was during the Tet Offensive.
The most grossly inaccurate movies are (1) We Were Soldiers, (2) Forrest Gump, (3) Green Berets, and (4) Apocalypse Now. Here are the reasons.
(1) The battle at LZ Albany is left out. Some historians claim that the NVA actually won the battle.
(2) Forrest Gump is shown going into a tunnel after his officer throws in a grenade. In real life, such explosions deplete oxygen in proximal regions of a tunnel. So soldiers would not have gone in like that after a grenade blast in the tunnel.
(3) The Green Berets shows none of the racial tension, friendly fire, or historical battles that actually occurred.
(4) Apocalypse Now has a major inaccuracy. The character of Colonel Kilgore is based on the real-life Colonel Hackworth, the most decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. In reality, Hackworth predicted the NVA victory in 1971 because he thought the war was being fought the wrong way. Hackworth predicted the Fall of Saigon in 1975 four years before it happened, and he was removed by the chain of command in 1971. In 2005, Hackword died from Agent Blue exposure, a chemical defoliant that caused cancer
None of the movies in (1) - (4) show Agent Orange. I wish a new movie could be made that shows Agent Orange with modern GIS software that uses computer coordinates. I think many people would find it interesting. When I gave my powerpoint demonstration on Agent Orange with a molecular model of TCDD, the class of graduate students found it interesting. They were also shocked by its effects.
http://www.327infantry.org/first/david_h鈥?/a>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ctsgBioi鈥?/a>
There are battles that the NVA claims to have won. The one that the US Army admits is the Battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord. It was classified until 1985. See the controversial articles. LZ Albany was completely left out of "We Were Soldiers." The NVA won that part. From the view of General Giap, the key to the Fall of Saigon was the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As long as it was open, they could supply their soldiers. General Westmoreland wanted to overrun the trail in 1968 after the Tet Offensive, but the political exposure of Tet led to his removal. After that, Abrams just began a gradual withdrawal, which explains the lack of reinforcement at Ripcord and its fall in1970. The war was very political in its events. Senior officers usually blame Congress for losing the war in 1975. The disagreements are extreme, and the controversy on historical events persists even decades after the war's end.
I'd like to see a movie about the last battle - the Mayaguez Incident in May of 1975 with the USMC and Cambodian pirates. A movie about the French collapse at Dien Bien Phu could be made in the style of "Enemy at the Gates."
Please know that I am reverent of US Military Veterans. I was closest to my grandfather, a WWII US Navy Veteran. I was devestated when he passed away last spring at age 84. I just think that movies should be historically accurate rather than portrayed in unrealistic modes to entertain an audience.
The "we never lost a battle" proclamation is often challenged by historians in articles like this. My gut feeling is that racial prejudice plays a role in that controversy. The abandoned Amerasians were caught in the tension between Americans and the NVA/VC.
http://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2010/08/鈥?/a>
See an abandoned Amerasian girl in this link - a child of a Vietnamese mother and American soldier.
http://www.goro-nakamura.com/english/ora鈥?/a>
