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Winter Soldier Photos

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Movie Info

This landmark documentary chronicles a 1971 meeting during which more than 100 American veterans spoke publicly at a Detroit motel about the inhumanity and brutality of the Vietnam War. Attempting to add context to the recently uncovered My Lai Massacre of 1968, the soldiers, a group that includes future Senator and presidential candidate John Kerry, recall witnessing atrocities committed against Vietnamese soldiers, unarmed civilians, children and prisoners of war.

Genre:

documentary
Original Language:

English
Producer:

Fred Aronow, Nancy Baker, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Grubin, Barbara Jarvis, Barbara Kopple, Michael Lesser, Nancy Miller, Lucy Massie Phenix
Release Date (Theaters):

Jan 27, 1972 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

Sep 15, 2009
Runtime:

1h 35m
Production Co:

Winterfilm Collective, Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Cast & Crew

John Kerry

Jonathan Birch

Rusty Sachs

Joseph Bangert

Scott Shimabukuro

Scott Camil

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Winter Soldier

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (21)

Like Hearts and Minds and Fahrenheit 9/11, Winter Soldier is less documentary than in-the-heat-of-conflict document, too close to the bone for "distance."

April 3, 2006 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Fernando F. Croce
Slant Magazine
The film is an important historical document, an eerily prescient antiwar plea and a dazzling example of moviemaking at its most iconographically potent. But at its best, it is the eloquent, unforgettable tale of profound moral reckoning.

December 15, 2005 | Full Review…

Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
The most chilling aspect of "Winter Soldier" is that, 34 years down the road, it feels fresh.

November 11, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/4

Sean P. Means
Film.com
Very much a product of its time: It's not an investigative piece; it's a combination of documentary footage, protest, despair and anger.

October 14, 2005 | Rating: B

Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Rich with moments of excruciating eloquence.

October 14, 2005 | Rating: 3/4

Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
I couldn't call this film a masterpiece, only indispensable.

September 24, 2005 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
The voices and faces of the Vietnam vets interviewed in the film give blunt testament to the tragic sameness of all wars.

August 23, 2017 | Full Review…

Dorothy Woodend
The Tyee (British Columbia)
...a damning portrait of institutionalized American brutality.

April 15, 2016 | Full Review…

Chris Barsanti
Medium
For an America enduring another summer of discontent in Iraq, Winter Soldier horrifically seems to prove that what's past is indeed prologue.

June 12, 2006 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly
No matter one's politics, this grainy black-and-white documentary can't fail but be convincing %u2013 and harrowing.

May 30, 2006 | Rating: 3.25/5 | Full Review…

Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com
It is one of the most difficult films to get through, yet it is also one of the most important films you may ever see.

May 8, 2006 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com
Amazingly relevant, and impossible to watch without thinking of current events.

April 14, 2006 | Full Review…

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

View All Critic Reviews (21)

Audience Reviews for Winter Soldier

Nov 11, 2009

Initially banned in the U.S., <i>Winter Soldier</i> is a candid compilation of eyewitness accounts and first hand testimony about atrocities committed during the Vietnam war. Harsh but eye opening.

Randy T Super Reviewer
Dec 12, 2005

"Winter Soldier" is an illuminating and powerful documentary filmed in grainy black and white of the 1971 hearings held by the Vietnam Veterans against the War. In the hearings, the veterans testify about atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam. The documentary consists of testimony and conversation with some photographic evidence. All of which is thoroughly gripping. What comes to the fore in the testimony is how much an underlying cause of the atrocities racism was. I remember reading that demeaning a group of people(in this case using the derogatory term "gook" to describe the Vietnamese people) makes it psychologically easier to hurt them. In the end, the ultimate responsibility is laid at the foot of the command officers. They are the ones who set policy and punishments. The documentary is timely, as ever. The movie urges the need for people of different viewpoints to converse. Occasionally, this can serve as a form of therapy.

Walter M Super Reviewer