http://movies.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=mvboards&action=m&tid=hv1808591020f0&sid=12172484&mid=34Hello everyone,
I saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival and thought it was excellent. I attended the second showing, screening at 1pm on Thursday afternoon. The theater was packed and when it was over we stood and cheered. Here are some thoughts that hopefully are tempered in nature yet capture the spirit of the film and the powerful reaction we in the audience had while seeing it.
The film wisely avoids Moore's over-the-top dramatics and instead focuses on a truly inspiring figure, his motivations, and his actions. This film captures John's intelligence, confidence, wisdom, and his ability to lead in an amazing variety of situations and circumstances.
In short, I do believe this film shows what happened, tells the story, and leaves it up to us to piece it together. The director wisely avoids dumbing it down and connecting all the dots for us, instead leaving it up to us as intelligent human beings to think about what we saw and what it means.
The film does not include any recent interviews with John, and only briefly shows him today in the beginning and ending of the film, and the footage is completely in-context, it's not a bunch of apple pie flag-waving shots. John's spoken words from the 60's and 70's are interlaced with excellent footage throughout the film.
As all good documentaries do, it begins with early childhood footage blended with current-day interviews with Kerry's family and friends. It proceeds through his youth and college years (a bit too briefly if you ask me, but it does set the stage nicely for the primary themes of the film), and John's sincere motivations for signing up for service and for volunteering to command a swift boat.
It then shows the reality of the war through the eyes of the soldiers, and we see some startingly amazing footage of wartime action. None of it is pleasant to watch, but all of it is vital to absorb. The film continues its approach of blending historical footage with current-day interviews with Kerry's crewmates and fellow veterans.
The balance of the film covers his struggle to come to terms with the war that he had volunteered for, and how his significant actions helped raise the public's attention when he returned from overseas action. Without going over the top, it shows his attendance at the veterans events in Detroit, his involvement in the week-long protest in Washington, and his amazing testimony before the Sentate committee.
(Having seen his full testimony on C-Span I found this particularly interesting because in the film we saw what happened leading up to the testimony and what happens afterwards, including the tossing of the medals over the barricades that were subsequently built.)
Again, the film does not mention anything that is going on with the current administration nor its military decisions. But as a reasonably well-informed citizen, I found some rather striking parallels between Vietnam and Iraq. The film does confirm that the guy behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (ha!) was simply a stooge for Nixon (who by the way mentions Kerry by name in the Watergate tapes; we hear some of those in the film).
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I am very excited about this film. I thought it was fantastic and I am even more amazed at the strength and courage of this man because of what I saw and heard. I urge everyone who has even a passing interest in what's going on in the world to check out this film and see - and hopefully think - for yourself.
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