The Hanoi Hilton

Like anyone else who has seen this film, I stumbled across it quite by accident.

I enjoyed it and considered it to be an historically accurate portrayal of the experiences of POW's in North Viet-Nam to the best of my knowledge from other accounts by POW's.

I am a Viet-Nam veteran who has always been puzzled by the obscurity of this film. Why was it never released to theaters?

I am not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but I have always wondered if the wealth and power of Hanoi Jane Fonda might have had something to do with the stifling of this movie. If I am not mistaken, I believe she was married to the media mogul, Ted Turner at the time. Any thoughts?

Hanoi Hilton is an excellent movie that captures the horror and the pain that American POWs had to face during the Vietnam War. It is NOT a political movie as some naive liberals would write in the comments section--nor is it right-wing grandstanding. The fact is that the Vietnamese people were downright horrible and tortured our men on a regular basis is historical fact. The fact that Jane Fonda, and other Hollywood idiot who would NEVER ever serve this great country (yet expect all the benefits American soldiers have given them)went to Nam and insulted the prisoners is an absolute fact. Those who write that this is a political movie are part of the problems with America--those who have never served, those who are too cowardice to serve, and those who spit on and insult the American soldier. Not one of them would have had the courage to withstand the torture and mayhem these brave men had to face each and every day. You should be saluting these men and not insulting them. These men are part of the reason you have MTV, HBO, NFL, freedom, the right to vote, etc--why America is free.

I generally don't like to write negative reviews and this one isn't however it's not a glowing positive one either.

After listening to a few podcasts and reading a few articles about what life was like during this timer for the soldiers I really think that this movie could have been so impactful however it just turned out to be a little bit lacklustre.

Just read US House International relations committee, Nov 4, 1999 hearings. electric shock was used and used a lot against quite a few US POWs in Vietnam. scores of witnesses testified to that it was used against our POWs including victims, our POW's, and third party witnesses such as Cuban observers who were present. In fct the Kremlin archives show Soviet observers saw this as well. would the Russians be lying about their own allies?

I really do love the smell of conspiracy theories in the morning. Sadly the post of jw_55767 proves once again that most people prefer their ideological myths to reality.

So lets look more closely at some of JW's myths about this film. First, the theory that Hanoi Hilton disappeared because of a cabal of the rights favourite demon, "Hanoi Jane" and her media mogul husband Ted Turner. Turner. Wrong. Hanoi Hilton was released theatrically. It made, as IMDb notes less than a million dollars. All things being equal this means, if the market is always right as right wing apologists and polemicists usually maintain, Hanoi Hilton was voted down by American consumers and was not systematically hidden away by Ms. Fonda or her media mogul husband so no one could see it.

Second, another favourite strategy of right wingers is to play up the atrocities of the enemy, which did occur, war after all is hell, and play down those of their own country. In reality, however, Americans committed atrocities in Vietnam just like the enemy did. One of many examples: My Lai. Atrocities, of course, have occurred in each and every modern war and they were committed by all sides.