Thursday, October 7, 2010

my reaction towards the film hearts and minds

       
The film really got my attention because I was able to understand the reasons that the U.S got involve in Vietnam. The interview that really surprise me and I thought was the person that was being the most honest with the people was the men that break down when he started talking about Kennedy’s death. His interview surprise me because he was recognizing and declaring that the political system of the U.S such as the president were lying about the real facts that were occurring and the reasons of the U.S involvement in Vietnam. This made me realize that the U.S was more concern about taking over Vietnam and controlling the territory that will contribute with the U.S ideology of expansion. The other interview that got my attention was of the man that worked with the atomic bombs that was interview towards the end. It got my attention to see his look of repentance when he was saying he was not realizing that he was contributing to an act of cruelty that killed a lot of people. He also mention that he could not imagine his children's being killed by an atomic bomb and that made him realize that he was contributing to an act of killing innocent people by realizing the bombs. This made me realize that most of the military soldiers that are part of wars for the most part are not realizing consciously about the kind of events they are contributing to and the effects of those acts. For the most part soldiers are being brainwash as one of the interviewers was mentioning because they are being display with the ideology that they going to war because they need to fight and win for the pride of their country. This shows that soldiers were being use as puppets because they were fighting for something that they didn't know.
  
The scene that was being use and it can relate to the way that the soldiers were being treated by the government was the footage that display a football team that were being told by their coach that the only thing they need to know is that they are playing to win. This shows that the coach was not giving clear reasons of why they were playing and the effects of winning the game. As the same way U.S soldiers were fighting in Vietnam without having any idea for what they were fighting for.
     

1 comment:

  1. Hi Miriam - Interesting reflections. One correction: the atom bomb wasn't used in Vietnam (it was used in Japan during WWII). The pilot we saw was talking about a number of chemical weapons and bombs he and other pilots dropped.

    The football thing is interesting I think in terms of language - we have so much war language in how we describe this form of entertainment.

    I agree that the Ellsberg interview is interesting - we may be used to hearing people say that politicians lie, but it's a different thing to hear it form someone who held a key position on the inside.

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