Film Archive Reviews  -

 Reviews of feature and documentary films that have endured the test of time

« Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam » - A moving documentary still relevant today

What immediately strikes  you  on seeing Bill Couturie's 'Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam'' is how relevant this 1987 documentary still is in 2009. It gives an account of  the horror and suffering  and pointlesness of the Vietnam War in the words of the US servicemen and women who fought it, through the  letters written by them to their families and friends from the battlefronts, read while original footage from the Vietnam war is shown.The effect is both moving and disturbing. And it made me wonder what letters home the US troops are writing from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The excerpts of the letters used in the film mostly came from scared, homesick, desperate  young boys of 18 or 19, faced suddenly with the real daily  threat of death and the horrors of a war they could not understand. They were written  spontaneously, without self-consciousness and, mostly, without pretense, and express strong feelings and intimate thoughts which they may have hesitated to say out aloud. One man writes ''One of the staggering facts is that most men here believe we will not win the war, and yet they stick their necks out every day and carry on as if they were fighting for the continental security of the United States.'' Another writes  « It's not only that I don't understand the purpose of this war- I don't understand the purpose of any war ». Another expresses a wish shared by  many of his comrades « I want to hold my head between my hands and run screaming away from here.'' Yet another comments on his injury  ''I was carrying that thing'' - his leg - ''all the way back. I was afraid the whole damn thing would come off.''

The film is based on a book of the published letters with  the same title, and  follows the war  chronologically, from the early 1960's until its end in 1973. Without imposing their  own views,  Bill Couturie and his team managed to produce  an 86-minute documentary which carries important anti-war messages but is also interesting cinema and innovative for its time.

The film is very cleverly edited and the footage used is 100% original footage of the time from TV  reporters  and army archives from the warfronts together with clips from  TV news programs showing Presidential statements and official statistics relating to the numbers of American troops involved and the casualties.The letters are read on the soundtrack by an impressive list of  professional actors, including Robert De Niro, Michael J. Fox, Kathleen Turner, Ellen Burstyn, Howard Rollins Jr. , Sean Penn and Robin Williams. Great   period songs  are used for the soundtrack to complete the effect from musicians such as Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, and  the Doors. It is no wonder the film won several Emmy Awards at the time of its release.

'Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam'' can be seen free on the internet at www.videodetective.com  and is also available in VHS from www.amazon.com

 

by Joanna Tachmintzis

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