La guerra del Vietnam: un film di Ken Burns e Lynn Novick

This isn't an easy watch, but it's one that I would highly recommend nonetheless. I watch many documentaries, but I have only rarely seen such an insightful and comprehensive portrait of a chapter in history.

Over the course of 16.5 hours this docu series takes the viewer from the earliest roots of the conflict in Vietnam and the country's sad colonial history to its modern-day reality after the war. Along the way, it tells a mesmerizing, shocking, appalling, tragic - but most of all: incredibly immersive and informative - story from the perspective of the people who were affected by this man-made tragedy.

Unlike most other documentaries on the subject, we also get to hear first hand accounts from North- and South Vietnamese officers, ARVN and Vietcong fighters, civilians from both the South and the North, in addition to learning more about the American experience and about the profound effect the conflict had on US society.

What Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have accomplished here can hardly be overstated; this is more than "just" an in-depth look at the Vietnam War: this is nothing less than the portrait of an era. A masterful work. 10 stars out of 10

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Every episode is an extraordinary lesson and the teachers are not trying to convert us but enlighten us. One side, both sides, all sides.To me, personally, the most shocking aspect of it all is its absurdity. As more troops are sent back to Afghanistan by the Trump administration, one wonders. Haven't we learned anything? Watching and listening to American vets, listening to Vietcong veterans saying, "We saw the American crying for their deaths and I though, they are just like us" The fact that something like that can be a revelation is part of the mystery of it all. Don't we know from day one that we're all the same? Humans. To Ken Burns and all of his partners and collaborators, thank you, thank you very much.

Over the years I have soaked up every film and documentary I could find on the subject of the Vietnam war, and I can say this series is by far the most profoundly complete I have seen. It uses insights from the individuals caught up in it - the Viet Cong & North Vietnamese Army, the US Military & South Vietnamese army, civilians from both sides, politicians and journalists alike, to explain, account and report from the early circumstances causing the build up and outbreak of the war through the fierce intensity at the height of the conflict to the final withdrawal and legacies.

It explores and reports the socio-political aspects, the strategies and technologies, the cultural contrasts of the belligerents and most of all the people fighting it. It gets across the absolute sacrificial determined tenacity of the north Vietnamese and Viet Cong people - hand made IEDs and mind boggling hard graft versus the richest most technically advanced, but often disillusioned, army in the world (not the last time this would happen). It covers every angle - it's the most complete and compelling telling of this tragic yet fascinating landmark in our history that I've come across.

If you have an interest in this significant piece of modern history - the first rock n roll war - which became an unmitigated disaster, this brilliant, powerful and compelling series is absolutely unmissable.

I'm honestly shocked at some of the negative reviews. This is quite comprehensive and almost seems appropriate that there are so many personal accounts intertwined. It's actually a blessing to have so many people from that generation (I was a baby and young child over those years) able to share their insight.

From the beginning, we get the history of France's involvement in the region starting in the mid 19th century and it leads through the political history of Vietnam along with some of their key leaders.

I think for many who think Vietnam was a mistake, its true but perhaps not for the reasons many assume. But there is a lot of overlap over administrations from Truman to Nixon back then to what's happening now starting with Iraq and likely even before then. We never learned the lessons of Vietnam and to this day over both democratic and republican controlled leadership, we have made the same mistakes in the Middle East.

This's should be must TV for people today to see how much we and our leaders haven't learned.

Well, I thought that was an amazing documentary. I think Ken Burns does an epic and moving job covering the events from a big picture political perspective. You really get a sense of the weight of history, and the scale of tragedy, particularly how decisions made by presidents and governments set in motion forces that led to catastrophic suffering. Millions of deaths and unhealed emotional wounds. I also thought the documentary was very good at the military level, describing battles and engagements that I had never heard of, in a reasonable detail. And the music and photography was epic. Seeing those pictures of old-time American life juxtaposed with the chaos of Vietnam was so moving. I also thought the reconciliation part at the end was really beautiful.

There were three things about the documentary that I did think were weaknesses.

1. There was such a focus on the protests, and starting so early on in the series, it kind of overwhelmed the narrative in some ways. I have read that the vast majority of veterans were proud of their service in Vietnam, and did not have this tortured sense of regret and shame that you see with those interviewed in the series. Some did but not most.

(for evidence see this article - https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/ken- burnss-vietnam-is-fair-to-the-troops-but-not-the-cause-1507324058)

2. I wonder about the conspiratorial angle of things. This documentary portrays the North Vietnamese as almost magically destined to win, as if it was inevitable, as if nothing the Americans could have done would have made any ultimate difference. I just wonder if part of the reason the Americans lost is because they weren't allowed to win. I mean, had the Americans occupied Hanoi and Haiphong Harbour, would not the North Vietnamese have been unable to prosecute the war? Surely if the Ho Chi Minh trail was permanently occupied in several places there wouldn't be the communist resupply into South Vietnam? But perhaps none of this would have been possible without China directly entering the conflict. Who knows.

3.Because the documentary is so long, and also attempts to cover the bigger historical events, I don't think it captures the day to day experience of the Vietnamese villagers that well. I mean, what made someone turn to the VietCong? What was daily life like? There is another, Vietnamese documentary "the face of the enemy" which I think does a better job of this.

Overall, a fascinating time spent watching this, and I recommend it to all with caveats.