The little-known protest of the Vietnam War staged from within the ranks of the military is explored in director David Zeiger's revealing documentary. Despite the well-documented media coverage of Vietnam War protests that took place on college campuses across the nation, few people but the most ardent history buffs remain aware of the massive protests that flourished in U.S. barracks and military bases at home and abroad. Staged by countless military men disillusioned with the ongoing war,
these protests reached from the hallowed halls of West Point to the bullet-riddled rice fields of Vietnam. Though hundreds of soldiers were imprisoned for voicing their controversial views and thousands more sent into exile for their subversive activities, the tireless efforts of the government and media to suppress this remarkable tale would eventually falter as the dissenting voices became too numerous to silence. Thirty years after the last bombs were dropped on Vietnam, the remarkable tale of the soldiers unafraid to stand up for their beliefs comes to the screen in a film that will forever alter the manner in which contemporary audiences view one of the most controversial wars in modern history. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
We haven't got space to do justice to David Zeiger's important historical documentary Sir! No Sir! but suffice it to say that it will change your understanding of the Vietnam era, even if you were alive then.
Shines a light on a forgotten corner of the antiwar movement: the men (and a few women) who returned from their tours of duty filled with doubt and disillusionment over what they saw, and did, there.
Not only a fascinating illumination of a blotted-out part of the counter-cultural, popular-protest '60s, but a timely questioning of patriotism and duty in the midst of an increasingly unjustifiable war.
Because there's a contemporary vibe to David Zeiger's informative Vietnam War documentary, the film is able to exist on two separate (if unavoidably linked) plateaus.
While a great number of former servicemen are interviewed for the film, their largely one-on-one recollections and testimonies are greatly magnified by the massive amount of archival visual footage presented here.
A very revealing documentary about the anti-war movement that was started by our troops during the VietNam era. Although the imagery we now have is that of dirty hippies spitting on soldiers as the returned from serving overseas, this documentary goes to show that that is a far cry from the truth. There was a concerted
effort amongst members in all branches of the military to protest what they were being required to do. Much of it was in the form of propaganda (underground newspapers and the like), but also outright refusal to obey orders. Some were courts-martialed for expressing a differing view, while others were even sentenced for mutiny. Some soldiers went as far as shooting their commanding officers or NCOs. The Black supremacist movement, en-vogue at the time, seized upon the disenfranchisement of Black soldiers to cause problems for "Whitey." One example is the uprising in a military jail in VietNam where White inmates and guards were attacked for days. According to the documentary, this strife inside the military caused the pull-out from VietNam and the change over to aerial bombings. As much as I cannot stand hippies, these people basically had the right idea. I wonder why we don't have this type in the military now (or is much of it not reported?).
This is a must see movie, and should be required viewing in all grade schools. It's not that good of a film, more something you had to sit through in history class. EXCEPT this is real and the truth. Now go watch it my little mushrooms!
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