Wow. A second blog in one day. So sorry but…
I’ve told you before that Viet Nam is my war.
Was it Burns’ war, too? Started last night on PBS in the U.S.
See the pre – review of all 18 hours….“Ken Burns’ ‘Vietnam War’ will break your heart and win your mind,” by James Poniewozik.
“The saddest thing about this elegiac documentary may be the credit it extends its audience. “The Vietnam War” still holds out hope that we might learn from history, after presenting 18 hours of evidence to the contrary.
Do you remember The Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire? July 1965. I get so angry and sad. And we didn’t learn. Still happening today.
Do you know Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers? Thanks for the photocopying and leaking of classified info. You’re a hero. (By the way, I think Edward Snowden is a hero, too.)
Just think about this, from the Poniewozik review: “Mr. Burns is willing to risk obviousness because his project is not to find surprising twists on American history. It’s to create a historical canon in the most proadly acceptable terms…. Mr. Burns’ films assume that it’s still possible for americans to have an agreed-on baseline … on government, war, race and culture … from which to go forward.”
I wish that were true…that agreed-on baseline. Because I haven’t seen it … certainly not about Nam and not about race or gender or even good government or culture or….
