Fancy Clown
Member
First part was fantastic. Really sad stuff the people of Vietnam had to go through.
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The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick. Premieres Sunday Sept. 17 on PBS.
- Thread starter Spike Spiegel
- Start date
Curious if there's a region free way to watch these? Can't watch it here in Canada
Curious if there's a region free way to watch these? Can't watch it here in Canada
Wait for the DVDs to come out then buy them :^)
Golden_Pigeon
Banned
Thanks you for all the infos !
By this part sound weird, in what sense Ho Chi Minh was flawed ? According to the description you gave of him, he seems great.
Fancy Clown
Member
He had thousands of people executed in his political purges and didn't care if innocent people were killed so long as they killed anyone who supported the french. Many people from villages he supported were executed in his purges, and the Viet Minh often buried people alive or used machetes rather than waste bullets.
Herr Schwarz
Banned
What's the tempo and tone of this thing? Is it a massive downer or interesting too?
I mean its a big one, and I've only seen Episode One, but so far really interesting, but also a downer. I mean given the subject matter there isn't a lot of fun to go around. But it's not pure downer.
Only 40 mins into the episode so far, but I think the only stuff they've censored was like one or two fucks.
Haven't seen anything censored visually as of yet.
And I mean it is airing one episode a night for 10 days it looks like, Sunday - Thursday for two weeks.
Sunster
Member
he seemed like a cool guy to me as well
Marion Cobretti
Member
Seems like the only thing they're censoring is language.
This is already the best Vietnam War documentary ever.
This is already the best Vietnam War documentary ever.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Somebody send this this episode to that Gaffer who was saying Germany and France should sanction the US for stuff like Vietnam...
Crazy but true.
EYEL1NER
Member
I just finished episode one and it's a massive downer for me. I mean, it is interesting and I'm learning a bunch of stuff; I didn't know as much before watching this about the French occupation and Ho Chi Minh's history as what they just went over. But it is pretty depressing to me also. Seeing how shitty the French colonialism wound up being and how big of a shitshow their war with the Viet Minh was, hearing how Ho Chi Minh had hopes that America would help the Vietnamese people find freedom and how he recited Thomas Jefferson to a large gathering (a lot of the talk about Ho Chi Minh's hopes for American assistance reminded me of reading about the naivety of Native American chiefs in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee who believed that the US government was a friend to the Native American people), and knowing what is still to come just really bums me out. I don't think the first episode was made in a way that it is supposed to be a massive downer, it didn't seem like the goal of it was to make everyone depressed, but the subject matter is just really heavy.
I want to watch all of it and don't normally need to quit reading or watching something when horrific tragedies happen, especially when they are things I already know about and have researched in the past at length, but I'm afraid that when they start getting to things like My Lai that I may feel the need to bow out.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Are they going to put up the other five episodes later?
Just wanted to come in and vent that once again Australia gets screwed. No clear way to view this at all. Whether it's on PBS (not available in your country), Google Play (not available in your country) or buying DVD/Blu-Ray (region locked to North America). It doesn't even seem to be a licensing conflict because I can't see any Australian channels/services that have picked it up at all. It just doesn't seem to be anywhere.
I'm immediately fascinated by the doco. I'm willing to give you money. Hell, I'd probably drop the $80+ for the Blu-Ray if it wasn't region locked. Let. Me. Watch. Your. Content.
I'm immediately fascinated by the doco. I'm willing to give you money. Hell, I'd probably drop the $80+ for the Blu-Ray if it wasn't region locked. Let. Me. Watch. Your. Content.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
I thought the first episode was supposed to be like 2 1/2 hours or something like that?
Any word on this coming to Netflix?
captjohnboyd
Member
You can watch the unedited versions on their website. Just finished up episode 2 and man this is such a great series so far. Really offers deep insight into the early start of our involvement in the region. I had no idea about a lot of this stuff and I consider myself fairly well versed in the war (from a lay persons perspective).
Also it's insane how inept and stupid diem and his brother were. Diems sister in law is a fucking monster too. Just wait till you see her "BBQ" interview. Fucking asshole
Far as I could tell the entire series is up for viewing on their website right now
nelsonroyale
Member
Sounds interesting.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
DVR has part 6 for next Sunday.
SolarPowered
Member
For the same reasons most nations of Western Europe obtained and held their colonies. They wanted the resources, prestige and truly believed themselves to be a genetically superior race bringing "civilization" to the "barbarian" races. I didn't even know about the French colonization of Vietnam until this documentary. I'm only up to episode 2 and it's been mind blow after mind blow. Can't imagine how much the entire series will reveal.
Does the documentary go into details for the tactics/battles, or is it mainly politics and overall strategy? I'm in Canada
My family lost everything and fled the country because of the war. Growing up, the commies were the bad guys (especially when grouped up with other communist leaders like Mao or Kim). However, reading up on Ho Chi Minh, he really doesn't sound that bad to me. He just wanted freedom. I can certainly respect his ideals.
As for why, I'll just quote Eisenhower in 1953:
Well, he did resort to using force to unite the country, in a war that ultimately led to the death of millions of Vietnamese. So, I guess a 'means to an end' kind of guy. However, it really does feel like he felt his hand was forced.
My family lost everything and fled the country because of the war. Growing up, the commies were the bad guys (especially when grouped up with other communist leaders like Mao or Kim). However, reading up on Ho Chi Minh, he really doesn't sound that bad to me. He just wanted freedom. I can certainly respect his ideals.
If you're interested in the Dien Bien Phu siege, Hell in a Very Small Place is a fascinating read. The name says it all.
As for why, I'll just quote Eisenhower in 1953:
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
noticed a koch brother in that list.
Really? Better than Hearts and Minds? Or Fog of War?
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
If the rest of the episodes are as good as the first, absolutely. The two docs you mentioned are interesting, but are like short stories compared to the epic novel that Ken Burns's take seems to be. They're good at highlighting specific aspects of the Vietnam war; but not so good at painting the big picture or providing enough detail.
Vic_Viper
Member
All I can find are the "broadcast" versions. Where are poeple finding the explicit versions?
Edit: NVM, found them.
Been waiting for this!
Been looking forward to this for months and the first episode was great...in that fairly depressing, educative sense. Think I got more from that first hour and a half than my entire public school education with regards to the history of Vietnam. Trent and Atticus' music fits this thing so perfectly.
Going by the first episode, I think this will be in contention for best war documentary ever.
It is that good.
I mean it's a Ken Burns doc, I know some people aren't the biggest fan of his style, but as someone who love him as a filmmaker, I think this is the strongest and the most confident work of his that I have seen.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Might check this out if I have time.
Yeah, David Koch is one of the main financiers of the project, strangely enough.
Still need to watch it wjhen I got some free time this week.
Since you all are discussing Ho Chi Minh, does the doc discuss how immediately after WWII, Ho Chi Minh was in Paris hoping to get an audience with the American president in hopes of gaining some support for the Vietnamese against the French? Seeing as how he saw the Vietnamese as similar to colonialists against the Brits?
Quick skim of dude's criticism. Vietnam war and colonialism is not good with black and white takes. It's so complex, I doubt this documentary will be able to parse it all out.
Since you all are discussing Ho Chi Minh, does the doc discuss how immediately after WWII, Ho Chi Minh was in Paris hoping to get an audience with the American president in hopes of gaining some support for the Vietnamese against the French? Seeing as how he saw the Vietnamese as similar to colonialists against the Brits?
Quick skim of dude's criticism. Vietnam war and colonialism is not good with black and white takes. It's so complex, I doubt this documentary will be able to parse it all out.
The documentary immediately begins with Ho Chi Minh's attempts to meet with President Woodrow Wilson during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
Spike Spiegel
Member
Tonight's episode:
I know some of you are skipping ahead and binge-watching, but I still feel the need to do this episodically.
Watch the episode online @ PBS.org
Episode 02. "Riding the Tiger" (1961-63)
President Kennedy inspires idealistic young Americans to serve their country and wrestles with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic Diem regime faces a growing communist insurgency and widespread Buddhist protests, a grave political crisis unfolds.
I know some of you are skipping ahead and binge-watching, but I still feel the need to do this episodically.
Even watching just the first episode, it makes me want to give my dad a big hug. I know how he refused to talk about it for so long when I was a kid, just like the opening. It's probably one of the main reasons I'm not a supporter of today's US government and military actions.
He's just now starting to tell me about what happened to him in the Navy back then when I visit now and hang out with him.
He's just now starting to tell me about what happened to him in the Navy back then when I visit now and hang out with him.
Hexxen-Panda
Member
Curious if there's a region free way to watch these? Can't watch it here in Canada
I'm from Canada and I watched episode 1 through Itunes for 7 bucks. I'm thinking of borrowing the bluray from the library, but after seeing episode 1, I think I'm gonna need some time in-between episodes just to recover emotionally.
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