Movie covers Jane Fonda's Winter Soldier hearing at Windsor U

 

One, Two, Three, Four

Who Are We Fighting For

Don’t Give a Damn Next Stop Is Vietnam

First Hand Account/Unwin Essay by Stephen Weir

You have to have lived through the Vietnam Era to truly understand the importance of the 1974 documentary "Hearts and Minds," directed by Peter Davis. This essay examines the two reasons why this student choose to write about this seminal film. First, it was one of the first documentaries in America to speak the truth about the Vietnam War to those in power. Second, it may have aimed to save the moral soul of the country, but Peter Davis was less than honest about the individuals directing the war, both in the USA and Vietnam.

Directed by Peter Davis, the 1974 American documentary film Hearts and Minds delves into the long twisted history of the Vietnam War, examining its profound impact on both American and Vietnamese cultures alike. Garnering critical acclaim, the film achieved the distinction of winning the Academy Award in 1975 for Best Documentary Feature.

The Washington Post, a major 20th century news source for all things related to the Vietnam War, praised the film for its honesty, albeit a few years after the war had ended. Their film writer, Peter Desson, wrote, 30 years after its initial screening, that Hearts and Minds is “one of the best documentaries ever made—a superb film that captures the thoughts and feelings of the era, along with the festering, spirited animus of it.”

“Once again, there is a war (the Iraq War), a counterculture, doves, and even a questionable premise,” he continued. When Hearts and Minds was filmed, the war for the USA “began with a purported 'unprovoked attack' by the North Vietnamese against a U.S. destroyer, followed by a 'deliberate attack' on American ships two days later, which were President Johnson's reasons (ultimately proven to be false) for the war. Now, 'the search for weapons of mass destruction' has transformed from a rallying cry into fodder for anger, derision, and satirical mockery."

Windsor University Hearing

And what about the anti-Hearts and Minds voices? Stephen Farber, writing for The New York Times, covered the 1975 Oscars and asked producer Bert Schneider why this obscure Oscar Award winning picture created such negativity among Hollywood conservatives like Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. Schneider explained that when he went up to receive the Oscar, he read a message from the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam while accepting the Best Documentary award for Hearts and Minds. The Vietcong message, which contained "greetings of friendship to all the American people" from Ambassador Dinh Ba Thi, chief of the PRG delegation to the Paris political talks, and Schneider's references to the current "liberation" of South Vietnam, stirred up a small firestorm that has yet to abate."

Remember, when the movie was being made, America was very much in favour of the war. There was a hatred towards communism, the fear of the Domino effect (the Vietcong taking their style of communism westward through Cambodia and Laos). As the movie showed, Americans took tremendous pride (i.e. cheerleaders, parades, football games) when their sons went to war even if they came back wounded or dead!

Few of the reviews from the 60s have survived into the digital age. The rerelease of the movie in 2004 saw very polarized reviews of the film. The New York Press's Armond White wrote in 2009 that Davis's film, "was the beginning of Red/Blue antagonism," he wrote, "Davis's visual argument overwhelms rationality, turning benighted patriotism against an opponent's humanity."

At Time Magazine, a biting review by Stefan Kanter on March 17, 1975, stated that throughout Hearts and Minds, the film displays more than enough heart, but it is mind that is missing. Perhaps the deepest flaw lies in the method: the Vietnam War is too convoluted, too devious to be examined in a style of compilation without comment.”

Over time, the number of positive reviews of "Hearts and Minds" has outgrown the negative remarks, but all of them had criticism for the content of the film and the way it was cut. Looking at excerpts of the reviews over the years via Rotten Tomatoes, the criticisms can be categorized into five distinct groups.

1. Bias and Manipulation: Critics argued that the film had a strong anti-war bias and that it manipulated footage and interviews to present a one-sided view of the war. The film predominantly highlighted the horrors and atrocities of the conflict, and some felt it downplayed the broader geopolitical context.

2. Selective Editing: Some accused the filmmakers of selectively editing interviews to make certain individuals, including top U.S. military personnel, appear in a negative light, most notably General William Westmoreland, United States Army Chief of Staff who says on film that "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner." We see on screen a Vietnamese woman trying to throw herself into the open grave of her husband during his funeral service.

3. Emotional Manipulation: The documentary uses emotional footage and interviews to evoke a highly emotional response from the audience. Some say this made the film more of a propaganda piece than a historical account.

4. Omission of Context: Critics contended that the film did not adequately provide the necessary historical and political context for the Vietnam War.

5. Questionable Interviews: Some interview subjects in the film were accused of being coerced or deceived into participating.

Watching one of the interviews in the movie, I suddenly realised that I had a personal stake in this story. The interview was with Edward Sowders (36-minute mark), A US combat soldier who deserted in 1970 and moved to Canada. In Hearts and Minds on camera he tells his crying mother that he is going to s\testify at a hearing about why he deserted. She asks if he is going back to Canada, He says yes, and I assume that they are talking about the Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI) that was held on February 1971 in Detroit and Windsor.

Windsor University coverage of Fonda's visit

He did not apparently speak at the WSI hearing that I attended at Windsor U on behalf of the Student Radio Station. He may have testified at the Winter Soldier Investigation hearings that were happening concurrently in Detroit.

The film crew of “Hearts and Minds” did have its issues with the WSI. The makers of the film morally opposed the involvement of Big name entertainment people in the funding and organizer of the WIS, Jane Fonda, Dick Gregory, Donald Sutherland, Barbara Dane, Phil Ochs and David Crosby and Graham Nash, Hearts and Minds would not cover any of the hearings held by the organizers, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, although they did cite them in their end of movie credits.

There was another unofficial hearing in Detroit shortly thereafter that Heart and Soul did cover and include in their film. This is where the 25‐year‐old Detroit deserter Sowder finally told the unofficial hearing, whose chairman was Democratic Representative Bella S. Abzug, (she is not identified in the film) what was really happening in Vietnam.

“I make no apology for my act of resistance. I could do nothing else at the time.” Said Sowder. “But underground life (in Windsor) has become intolerable to me. So, I'm here today to draw attention to the true facts concerning my case and the cases of tens of thousands just like me. We are not criminals to be hunted and imprisoned.”

Jane Fonda remember speaking at Windsor University, it was her first public appearance for WS!.

“My job was to raise money (all my speaking fees from the tour went to fund WSI) and recruit GIs who had seen or committed atrocities in Vietnam.”

"My first speech was given at a college in Canada. When I re-entered the US at the Cleveland airport, all my luggage was seized and gone through. They discovered a large bag containing little plastic envelopes marked (in red nail polish) 'B,' 'L,' 'D' – signifying breakfast, lunch, and dinner – that contained the vitamins I took with each meal.”

"I was handcuffed and put in the Cleveland Jail. Headlines across the country had the story of me being jailed on suspicion of drug smuggling. I was released on bond, and months later, after every pill had been tested in a lab (with taxpayers' money!).

"The irony was that as a result of all the bruhaha over this, the college audiences for my speeches were never less than 2,000 and sometimes as large as 10,000."

John McIvride, a philosophy graduate from Windsor University, remembers going to see Jane Fonda in Windsor in February 1971. The event happened after closed-door hearings had taken place.

"Yes, I was there for Jane Fonda at the dining room in 1971. The place was packed. I do not recall a hearing; there was a long table with several people sitting, some spoke. Hanoi Jane spoke the most. Lots of US young people around at that time (some vets, mostly draft dodgers getting a foreign education). Many were of my acquaintance."

The Windsor Star told much the same story, written by an unnamed reporter in its February 1st edition. There is a bit of a sexist tinge to the story, so one assumes it was written by a male.

"Jane Fonda told a University of Windsor audience Saturday night that the United States is turning Southeast Asia into an automated murder machine," read the page three story. There is a picture of Fonda at the podium in Vanier Hall.

"The petite, attractive actress turned activist is in Detroit for the Winter Soldier Investigation of US War Crimes in Vietnam. Miss Fonda is one of the sponsors of the hearings, which were held Sunday and today."

She told the standing-room-only crowd of about 800 at Vanier Hall that, "When the US President, Nixon, says he is winding down the war, it is not true; the tactics have changed, but not the policy."

While the famous actress may be attractive, the movie that her group put out was not. The soldiers' testimony, given a month after the revelations of the My Lai massacre, is in grainy black and white. Many of the 120 or so vets who testified are featured in the movie, along with colour footage and pictures of the atrocities that the men were describing to the audience. Some Winter Soldier footage of soldiers setting fire to Vietcong houses was also shared with 'Hearts and Minds.'

While both movies share a common goal of revealing the truth about the Vietnam War, they differ in whose truth they portray. "Hearts and Minds" is a well-crafted film narrated by Davis, evoking strong emotions by depicting American actions like carpet bombing, Napalm attacks on children, and the experiences of soldiers and Vietnamese civilians. It also includes scenes of comedians interacting with soldiers and political leaders discussing the war. But the film does detail the pain and suffering of all Vietnamese, making it more than just an anti-American piece. In a charged political atmosphere, Davis deliberately explores the impact on both North and South Vietnam.

The "Winter Soldier" movie, as viewed by the same peer reviewed resource, is an extraordinary oral history and social artifact. It's a grainy black-and-white documentary with soldiers testifying about their actions and the war's terrible effects on them. They pass the microphone, revealing disturbing confessions of violence, such as stoning children and other atrocities.

"Hearts and Minds" scrutinizes the war machine's sins rather than the individual soldiers' actions. It omits depictions of racism among American troops, the killing of commanders, child abuse, the emeny’’s use of long haired combat soldiers (VC women) and the plight of Amerasian children born from Vietnamese-American relationships during the war.

Notably, "Hearts and Minds" offers a limited view of Vietnamese leaders, showing Ho Chi Minh in a positive light playing in the dirt with children and writing letters to the US government, But the film omits the horrors of his land reforms, political purges, and the torture of American POWs. The film misses the point that Ho Chi Min’s use of child soldiers and his deadly re-education camps that resembled WWII Nazis' tactics.

The two movies both temper their descriptions of the Viet Cong, but the "Winter Soldier Investigation" provides unvarnished accounts of atrocities committed by American soldiers during the war that make what Ho Chi Min do pale..

Ultimately, if I had to recommend one movie, it would be "Winter Soldier Investigation," but watching both films offers a comprehensive understanding of this forgotten chapter in American history.