lundi 18 septembre 2017

Burns/Novick: The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, a film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

The first episode aired last night, I was only able to catch about half.

(I am not sure if the non-Americans in the forum know who Ken Burns is, or the nature of his documentaries. He makes long-form historical documentaries, most famously of the American Civil war. Lots of research, period music, period photos and film [no film from the Civil war, obviously, but his films on more recent topics might have film]. He is well respected in the U.S., but gets a bit of criticism for his formulaic use of "scan and pan" with historic photos. This current film is ten episodes for a total of 18 hours.)

My impression is so far is that Burns and Novick stick to facts and introspection. I like that Burns and Novick seem to interview nearly as Vietnamese (from both sides) as Americans.

I am seeing mixed reviews, some of which seem annoyed that he is presenting a balanced look at how the U.S. got stuck there, including a good rundown of the internal American struggle to oppose colonialism (including WWII era support for Vietnamese independence) while opposing communism (leading to military support for the French effort to maintain control). It has nuance.

Is anyone else watching it?


ETA: I also like that it is being released in Vietnamese as well as English.


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