Befreit die Armee

Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland headline an anti-war tour around military establishments. In the opening, Jane claims that there is a large contingent of military personnel opposed to the war. This is their response to the Bob Hope patriotism and pro-war USO tours. The film was pulled quickly after Jane's Hanoi visit and most copies destroyed. This is a very compelling time capsule. The anti-war movement can be portrayed as lamb to the slaughter. In this case, this group is quite confrontational. I am especially struck by the lyrics from the Okinawa singing group. This is unapologetically anti-Americanism. Some of this goes over the line for me but I didn't live through that time. As a film, it's a little rough technically at times. The filmmaking is not the best but that is not the most important.

In 1971,a troop of anti Vietnam war protesters,led by Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland toured with an anti war review that they called 'F.T.A.',which could either mean free the Army (or even f**k the Army,depending). They traveled to military bases within the Pacific Rim,where they were welcomed by a then,rising tide of anti war activists in the Military. Hours of footage was filmed & assembled into the documentary film that was briefly released in 1972 as 'F.T.A.'. The week that the film was released by American International Films,Fonda made a controversial trip to South East Asia, and after one scant week,the film was pulled from distribution & was never heard from,again (rumour has it that the Nixon Administration had a lot to do with the film being yanked). Besides the afore mentioned Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland (who just barely two years earlier acted in the penultimate anti war film,Robert Altman's 'M*A*S*H'),the performances also included the likes of folk singer,Holly Near,and even Peter Boyle (an unknown at the time who would gain fame a couple of years later in Mel Brooks''Young Frankenstein'). Besides the performance footage,we are also treated to interviews with members of the military who had their wits end of the senseless violence & destruction that was the American intervention in South East Asia,which in addition to Vietnam,also included Cambodia (some of the enlisted men would end up in the documentary film, 'Winter Soldiers'). All was not always rosy. We get to see a performance of F.T.A. being disrupted by a couple of pro war,right wing soldiers,voicing their disfavour of the whole production (they were peacefully shown the way out). Women's rights advocate,Francine Parker directs the film (she only directed one other project:an episode of 'Cagney & Lacey'). At times, the film's pacing starts to slack a bit,but doesn't manage to lessen the film's message at all. Well worth checking out if you're an advocate for peace,anti war activist,historical buff,or fancier of the documentary genre. Spoken (mostly)in English,and Okenowian,Tagalog & Japanese with English subtitles. Rated 'R' by the MPAA,this film has some outbursts of strong language & some disturbing images that the troupe got to see while visiting the Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial sites,while on tour in Japan

unfortunately, in other reviews made about this film there is a lack of

understanding. The time and place of this movie are the two things that are of utmost importance to comprehend, only with the comforting feeling of ignorance can the point of this material be avoided. Being the residual of a post-Vietnam society that resides in the same state on this day of November 1st, 2004 as it did when this film was made, can we still be so blinded by the pure'ed peas of pride. I would hope, all attention deficits and outside influences aside that you would be capable of seeing this film with an open mind.

i applaud your effort. HL

One of the guys who was there, shared this with me. I looked it up today because Donald Sutherland just passed away, but most importantly, I knew some of these Marines. I was once married to one of them. This film was and still is, a very important timepiece. It was a bit slow but I liked Donald Sutherland smile at parts. Imagine my surprise, when I heard a familiar voice! There was this Marine from Beaver Dam, KY. That I knew quite well. He was a character and he also hated this war. These guys were drafted into a war that they didn't believe in. One young man said, "it was jail or the military." I suppose that most people except that age group, those who served or in my case, knew some of the guys who got a speaking role.

I'm glad the docu refrains from lengthy preachments against the Vietnam war. Instead the narrative's a mix of anti-war songs, dance numbers and comedy sketches, but most importantly are the revelatory comments from soldiers themselves about personal feelings toward the army and life stateside. Many are on the humorous side, yet short in length. Nonetheless, their overall impact remains unmistakable.

Fonda and Sutherland both sing and comment, each serving more as continuity between sections than as major spokespeople. That mainly allows the focus to be where it should be: namely, on the servicemen and women of all races and their anti-war, anti-army feelings. Perhaps unexpectedly, there are no stagings in Vietnam itself, probably because of Defense Department restrictions. (After all, this is not Bob Hope.) Instead the show travels across the Pacific ending in Japan and lingering images of 1945's a-bomb blasts. Still, the overlapping message remains basically the same across the changing locales and service-personnel.

Anyway, whether you agree or not with the anti-war stance, the docu's well worth catching up with. And though 50-years have passed, the underlying feelings are as relevant now as they were then.