1. The Way We Get By
On call 24/7 for the past six years, three senior citizens have made history by greeting nearly one million U.S. troops at a tiny airport in Maine. Filled with unexpected turns, their uplifting and emotional journey demonstrates the meaning of community at a time when America needs it most.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
2. Why We Fight
Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
3. For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska
In 1867, when the United States purchased the Alaska territory, the promise of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights didn't apply to Alaska Natives. Their struggle to win justice is one of the great, untold chapters of the American civil rights movement, culminating at the violent peak of World War II with the passage of one of the nation's first equal rights laws.
4. Das Dorf der Freundschaft (Das Dorf der Freundschaft)
A German Documentary about the “village of friendship” that was created by American Veteran George Mizo to help the Vietnamese kids suffering from the Vietnam War.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
5. 벌레의 눈물 (벌레의 눈물)
Philip Jones Griffith was a U.K. wartime photographer during the Vietnam War. He decides to reconstruct the Vietnam War from the point of view of the victims. A documentary that takes the form of an essay using photographs of victims who fell as they were treated worse than bugs.
6. I Was a Soldier
Three young Texans try to adjust to small-town life after experiencing the emotional toll of combat in the jungles of Vietnam.
7. A Program for Vietnam Veterans...and Everyone Else Who Should Care
Thirteen veterans are given an opportunity to reveal their experiences in Vietnam and to talk about the frustrations they have encountered upon returning home.
8. The People vs. Agent Orange (Agent orange, la dernière bataille)
Two women fight to hold the manufacturers accountable for the Agent Orange catastrophe. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination exposing a massive cover-up.
It has an average vote of 8.8 on TMDB.
9. The Last Season
In search of the lucrative matsutake mushroom, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war. Roger, a self-described 'fall-down drunk' and sniper in Vietnam, and Kouy, a Cambodian refugee who fought the Khmer Rouge, bonded in the bustling tent-city known as Mushroom Camp, which pops up each autumn in the Oregon woods. Their friendship became an adoptive family; according to a Cambodian custom, if you lose your family like Kouy, you must rebuilt it anew. Now, however, this new family could be lost. Roger's health is declining and trauma flashbacks rack his mind; Kouy gently aids his family before the snow falls and the hunting season ends, signaling his time to leave.
It has an average vote of 5.8 on TMDB.
10. Hearts and Minds
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
It has an average vote of 7.765 on TMDB.
11. Remembering Vietnam: The Wall at 25
Looking back on the creation of the Vietnam Memorial, this Emmy-nominated documentary chronicles the controversy surrounding the monument's construction and touches on the history of the polarizing war that inspired it. Fueled by the vision of Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs and brought to life by then-fledgling designer Maya Lin, the memorial would eventually become the nation's most visited monument. But its success was a hard-fought victory.
12. John Baumhackl: Chemical Unit
John Baumhackle recalls the early days of the Vietnam War when more and more troops were being sent into combat every month. In 1968 John's number came up and he was drafted into the conflict. Buying a camera at his company store before shipping off, he captured many battles while in a helicopter. John is near the front lines when President Nixon made the controversial decision to push into Cambodia. In John's view, this saved American lives.
13. Cao Bang, les soldats sacrifiés d'Indochine (Cao Bang, les soldats sacrifiés d'Indochine)
(Cao Bang, les soldats sacrifiés d'Indochine)
14. First Kill
Veterans of the Vietnam War tell about their experiences. The disasters but also the glorious moments of war. The central figure in the documentary is the scenario writer of Full Metal Jacket, Michael Herr. The veterans describe how it felt to kill for the first time and how those feelings still haunt them.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
15. The Vietnam War: Personal Reflections
More than a dozen Vietnam War veterans from the central Illinois area recount their tours of duty including ground and air combat, the fighting environment, their living conditions, coping with the loss of friends and health issues including the effects of Agent Orange. They also reflect on the reception they received upon returning home and their opinions of the war.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
16. Soldiers in Hiding
A portrait of several Vietnam War veterans living "off the grid." Upon returning home from the war, these men found themselves unable to exist in normal society due to the lasting psychological scars from Vietnam, and, subsequently, chose to live a life of solitude and survival in the American wilderness.
It has an average vote of 5.6 on TMDB.
17. The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan
Private McKinley Nolan vanished 40 years ago in Vietnam on the Cambodian frontier. Some say he was captured, some say he was a traitor, some even say he was an American operative. The US Army officially claims he was radicalized and went native, joining the Viet Cong and later encountering the Khmer Rouge. In 2006, retired US Army Lt. Dan Smith, revisiting the battlefields of his youth, may have encountered the elusive McKinley, alive. So began a journey into the heart of darkness.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
18. Jeremiah
A U.S. Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton leading a plane sortie into North Vietnam was shot down and captured as a POW. For 8 years of his life, he was a prisoner at Hanoi Hilton where he and other POWs were tortured. In a press conference, being forced by the North Vietnamese to say he was being treated well he blinked out the letters TORTURE in Morse code.
19. Interviews with My Lai Veterans
Interviews with five former American soldiers who were present at the March 16, 1968 attack on the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War; they discuss the orders that were issued leading up to the attack, their expectations of what they would find there, and the subsequent massacre of the inhabitants and destruction of the village, as well as possible motivations for the killings and rapes which took place. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
20. Scramble the Seawolves
Scramble the Seawolves is the unknown story of the US Navy’s first and only Attack Helicopter Gunship Squadron. Established in 1967 and tasked with a life-saving mission of providing close air support for Gamewarden Operations and friendly allies in the Mekong Delta, Republic of Vietnam. Using war-torn hand-me-down huey’s, the Seawolves would become the most decorated Squadron in the Vietnam War and Naval Aviation History. Fifty years later, this is their story.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
