Hearts and Minds (1974) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection (2014 Reissue)
on July 3rd, 2016 at 15:31
Released in the United States in March, 1975, Peter Davis' Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds boldly probed the depths of a still-open wound. The war had barely ended, and the details of the Paris Agreement, which ultimately proved useless, were still being debated. When the movie picked up an Oscar a month later, there was protest from the Hollywood conservative elite, among them the evening's co-host Bob Hope. Many years later, the film manages to evoke a similar degree of pain, even if it is only the pain of recall. Time has eroded its topical urgency, yet Hearts and Minds still resonates as a cautionary tale against unquestioned military might abroad and virulent patriotism at home. The documentary is clearly anti-war in both tone and content, but Davis studiously avoids hitting home any single point, preferring to argue his case through an oblique accretion of testimony and an almost poetic disregard for narrative cohesion. Free-associative in its approach to an already nebulous political dilemma, Hearts and Minds refuses to impose clarity on what was and for many still is the most inexplicable period of recent American history.
Director: Peter Davis
Country: USA
Genre: Documentary, War
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