In the Year of the Pig

Worth the time to revisit especially in today's money-making military-industrial complex. Colonialism & imperialism are often ugly: be prepared for disgust as this work adeptly weaves historical footage (lots of white-male talking heads) as a means to untangle the complicated mess of the Vietnam War. The approach is decidedly anti-war; the effect is certainly thought-provoking; and the visceral reactions of the work's first audiences probably speaks to the filmmaker hitting a nerve--perhaps the same nerve most humans have when confronted with such an ugly truth about themselves that hostility & denial ensue.

In The Year of the Pig is as important to narrative cinema as it is to documentary cinema. The raw and powerful anti-Vietnam (note- De made the film in 1968 and not in the 80's or 90's like directors such as Stone or Kubrick) documentary is composed of archival footage, interviews done by De himself, and an amazing soundtrack done by a student of avant-garde composer John Cage. De first tackled didactic montage in Point of Order and he all but masters it in this film. Imagine this- war torn American soldiers, legless and bloody, being carried off the battlefield while "Old Glory" is being played on timbas and other Indonesian instruments. It is so anti-American, anti-War, and brilliant. This film is a seminal piece of work in the New American Cinema and should be preserved for generations to come.

...Michael Moore's FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is making huge waves as I write this, and yet IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG proves that the concept Moore used was nothing new. Back when the war against Vietnam was being waged by LBJ, this Emile de Antonio classic connected the dots on what had actually been happening in Vietnam since the Japanese occupation forces of World War Two left. In fact, a few years later HEARTS AND MINDS used much of the same material (that time in color) but not with nearly as much historical background as de Antonio does here. This is a harrowing collection of fact, a heartbreaking showcase of official ethnic disrespect, and one of the few true staples of the '60s counterculture that neither originated from its own ranks nor is dated in its technique (black and white cinematography notwithstanding)...

It's not that it needed an actor to voice it, but it really would have benefitted from someone with just a little more inflexion and emotion in their voice as this archive-based documentary tries to explain to us just what the Vietnam war was all about. Beginning at the close of the era of French Indo-China, with somewhat idealistic treaties being created between the French and their former colonies, this uses quite an impressive collection of reportage to takes us through a chronology of what happens next. The end of the Vietnamese Empire, fragmentation of all things that were once under European control, the encroachment of the Chinese and/or Soviet-backed communists and, of course, the attempts of the US military to prop up a pro-western government - regardless of the methods or credentials of the people it supported. Editorially, it's quite interesting in that it at least attempts to strike a balance between those for and against on Capitol Hill. Dark forebodings from the late President Kennedy that large-scale bombings wouldn't work and would only drive the youngsters into the arms of the Viet-Kong are ignored and appear to be borne out as more tonnage is dropped on this small nation than during the entirety of the Second World War. There are some truly incongruous images here. Paddy farmers using skills passed down from their great-ancestors whilst carrying rifles; young men digging huge holes in the ground so they can shelter from the overhead onslaught. It also doesn't shy away from showing us the injuries caused to the squaddies on the ground, crawling through the dense jungle and having to fight hand-to-hand (or rifle to rifle) without the overwhelming technological superiority their country undoubtedly possessed. As the conflict entrenches, we are shown that this hitherto agrarian population is getting to grips with modern weaponry and modern combat tactics and with death tolls mounting on both sides the politicians have become just as deeply entrenched. In my own, humble, opinion what this all showed was the ultimate triumph of dogma over humanity, and a shocking disrespect for the prevailing cultures too. Did anyone really care about the indiscriminate bombings killing thousands of civilians? Were they a sacrifice both sides were prepared to make for a greater goal? The USA determined that communism couldn't get a further foothold in Asia, the Viet-Kong continuing an age-old fight for these people to be free - of Mongols, of Manchu, of French or, of Americans. The narration doesn't attempt to formulate any ideas nor does it encourage us one way or the other. The quotes from the White House, Congress, the US State Department as well as from journalist and former territorial administrators frequently contradict each other, but there is more than enough comment and imagery here for us to draw our own, quite well informed, conclusions. It's quite a testament to the courage of the camera operators and shows quite clearly that after a slew of content proving the futilities and abhorrences of WWII, some governments still think war, directed from a room thousands of miles away, can ever provide for a permanent solution.

One of the finest films on the subject.

Its condemnation of the Vietnam massacre - which was orchestrated and conducted by America in but one of its worst hours (to be exceeded only by the current evil now taking place in the sands of Iraq) - is as subtle, historically accurate, and artful as it is overwhelming.

The capture of so many of the historical figures of the day in this work, on both sides of the issue, is a treasure to be protected for future generations to study and over which to weep.

Should you find it, it is well worth the rental and more than worth the time. Pass it onto friends at this most crucial moment in our History - along with "The Fog of War," yet another brilliant study of the fallacy of "America. Right or Wrong."