PBS series "The Vietnam War" by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

[kiemchacsu]

As the title is clear, the series is on air now.
As a Vietnamese who born after the war, this is a very great opportunity for us to understand more about the war. So many factors had involved that we have never heard/ known before. Even though the directors said that this film is made by Americans for Americansa, but we are as Vietnamese also benefit from it. Enjoy the watch.
It's ten-episode series, 18 hours long in total, now broadcasting online in below link

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/

P.s. In terms of photography, many iconic photos and a lot of other photos have been used in the film.

EDIT: thanks for the Links, Kuuan

in case there is anyone in Europe who wants to watch it in German or French, these are available here right now: https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/RC-015017/vietnam/ and https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-015017/vietnam/

 

[bayernfan]

i was told a few weeks ago to watch this series. thanks for reminding me to do so.

 

[lxmike]

I find anything by Ken burns is very special, very well researched and ultimately watchable

 

[f16sunshine]

NPR also at this time has a podcast about LBJ and the discussions going into the conflict.
It's an interesting listen.

As someone who grew up in America towards the end of the conflict, I can say most Americans know very little about what was going on.
When I was in school there were absolutely no discussions in class, the topic did not exist.

 

[ptpdprinter]

When I was in school there were absolutely no discussions in class, the topic did not exist.

I think it depends on your age and sex, and where you were living. Even as a young adolescent I was concerned about what my draft lottery number would be, and it was certainly a hot topic in high school and college, not to mention in the streets and on the nightly news.

 

[Calzone]

I think it depends on you age and sex, and where you were living. Even as a young adolescent I was concerned about what my draft lottery number would be, and it was certainly a hot topic in high school and college.

My generation was acutely aware of the Vietnam War. It really shaped our thinking, promoted drug use, and was kept in the back of our minds that we might not have too much of a future. Basically we lived like burnouts thinking we had the possibility of dying young.

Since I graduated High School in 1976 the war was already over, but the attitude I grew up with was compounded by the big recession of 1974 that triggered double digit unemployment and double digit inflation.

Cal

 

[filmtwit]

What's been really interesting about the series for me is that the first few episodes are not strictly on-time-line, the arrive jumps from one to later years of the war so you can see that decisions made early on in the war, had costly effects later on. They also are not sticking to a political (top down) history where you see everything from the officers point of view, you get more and more oral history from those who had to do the work here.

 

[Calzone]

For a literary reference read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien.

It is sold as a book of fiction, but really is non fiction. A valuable book, an easy read, and will lend a lot of understanding from one soldier's personal point of view. A haunting book.

Cal

 

[twopointeight]

Perspective

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/21/the-killing-of-history/

 

[FrozenInTime]

In the films, they did a really good job presenting the B&W photos : stunning photos , but also the reproduction of tonality, grain and sharpness was impressively well handled.

 

[winzenbourg]

+1 for this recommendation!

For a literary reference read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien.

It is sold as a book of fiction, but really is non fiction. A valuable book, an easy read, and will lend a lot of understanding from one soldier's personal point of view. A haunting book.

Cal

 

[oftheherd]

I have not been entirely satisfied with what I have seen so far. I'm looking forward to tonight's episode to see how events are portrayed.

But then of course I spent four years there, and watched many things happen and evolve. The problem with Vietnam is that what you know tends to be when and where. My first two years were in the 173rd Abn Bde. I was there for Dak To 2, although thankfully not in the infantry. Those of us there tended to think the whole truth of casualties was not accurate, bad as it was portrayed.

The incident they mentioned about the bomb being dropped on our unit was true. But it was implied that it was a propeller aircraft. People I talked to all said it was a fast mover. They also said it was caused by a flare shifting in the wind. To his credit, the pilot thought he was dropping his bomb where the ground troops wanted it, based on the location of the flare.

That bomb took out most of the battalion staff, most of the companies' staffs (who had just gone there for a staff meeting), most of the battalion's wounded who had been consolidated there, and 12 of 14 medics who were there to treat them. It was not my job to document that, so I can't tell you how many may have been wounded rather than killed. But most I talked to talked as if most had been killed.

But it can be amazing sometimes who will live and who will die. In the book Horse Soldiers, an incident is recounted where an American soldier was on a berm in Afganistan when a bomb was dropped on the berm, killing many enemy. It threw him into the air, covered him in dirt, seriously scared him, but he survived with minor injuries.

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I think it is a bad series. It is well done. If I think there are mistakes, I do think that there is a lot of good information there, and it is as mentioned juxtaposed in an interesting manner. I continue to try and watch every episode.

And for the most part, I am enjoying watching it, and finding truth in it. We surely did fail to win the hearts and minds of the people. It was partly our fault, and more the fault of the ARVN, but mostly the VC/NVA as they were often quite brutal.

Rant over. 😛

Kiemchacsu - thanks for bringing this up and reminding those who had forgotten to watch. I think there is something for everyone to learn from. The worst part is probably that there were many things for us to learn there, and those things were not learned. My personal take on that is that it was politics that lost the war.

 

[jszokoli]

Perspective

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/21/the-killing-of-history/

I'd say say slant not perspective.

I would suggest anyone reading this read the story linked above.

THIS IS THE REAL FAKE NEWS. The pro Russian slant is transparent. Obama over threw the rightful government in the Ukraine?!?!

This type of attack on fact is very troubling.
Joe

 

[Calzone]

Perspective

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/21/the-killing-of-history/

My brother was a Buck Sargent in the U.S. Army in 1967. He was drafted and looked like the enemy being a first generation Chinese-American. He was stationed in the south to avoid being mistaken for the enemy. He mostly built bunkers and fortifications. He never mentioned doing combat.

After the war was over I happened to work at Grumman, the fourth largest military contractor in the U.S., in the 1980's. Being a large military contractor, at Grumman they had a big veteran preference in their hiring, so about 3/4's of the people I worked with were military veterans.

One of my friends at work was in Vietnam in the army. I now understand why my friend Richie confided in me some of the atrocities he performed to me. It was a confession of sorts, because I was not only his friend, but also because I looked like the enemy. I'm pretty sure Richie did not confide or tell others. It was not something he was proud of, and it definitely was not bragging.

I did not begin any leading conversation that lead to these relevations, I just listened, didn't really respond, but it seemed necessary for Richie to tell these stories to specifically me. I will not repeat them here, but I know of some atrocities of prisoners that were killed as examples to get other prisoners held captive to talk.

Seemed systematic... the way Richie explained what they would do when they capture the enemy.

Cal

 

[f16sunshine]

I remember starting my senior year in HS which was 1985.
We got our text books and among them was a new, first ever year used World History book.
My dad is a history buff. He came to the states in the late 50's from Syria.
Always had a lot of opinions about how inaccurate and incomplete the "news" was in the US.
Mostly regarding the middle east issues but also native american treaties (especially regarding salmon and fishing in our area... he would go on and on about it still today).


I remember him looking through that book for a few minutes and slamming it shut... tossing it on the table.
He said Something to the effect of "we'll make all the same mistakes again" .
There in 1985 a public school text book with hardly a lick of history after ww2 until you got to Kennedy and then Nixon.

Ask any Gen X-er about what they learned in K-12 about Vietnam.
Most will have had the same experience as me.

 

[daveleo]

My wife (who is younger than I am) is watching this PBS series (I am not) and tells me after each episode "did you know ....".
I tell her, "Yes, I did know (as much as most people knew anyway), and that's why I can't watch it".

She says the series is just excellent.

 

[Timmyjoe]

My son and I are watching it. I was born in the 1950's, so came of age during the war and I followed it with my dad. Most of what I've seen so far are things I remember, but there are some little tidbits that I've been picking up. It's a very well done series.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Bob Michaels]

I have enjoyed this series very much. The directors and writes just did a superb job deserving of recognition. And, the entire story concept is relevant to me as a 73 year old US citizen who spent my youth in that era with friends who had direct involvement, some not making it home. Fortunately I had a choice to going or not and made the decision to stay home. That created a lifelong respect for those when did go.

I spent some time in the early 60's with some of the skydivers (my avocation then) from Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg during the time when they were "special advisors" before ground troops were openly committed. They never said anything about what they did in Vietnam but I had a good idea. Great guys outwardly appearing like regular soldiers until you got to really know them and realized they had ice water in their veins.

To me, this series epitomizes the communication aspect of what photography is really all about, just extraordinarily well done.

 

[ProSimex]

Would be nice if they let Canadians watch it

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Anything from Ken Burns is an event, and a reminder of the importance of PBS.
His brother Ric Burns is similarly talented.

Chris