Hearts and Minds

Peter Davis’ Hearts and Minds provides the viewer with a strong, emotionally-charged view of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Having never seen the film, I was struck by many aspects of the documentary’s style and technique, and found myself comparing the way the film was constructed and presented to recent documentaries I am more familiar with, in particular Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911.

Watching Hearts and Minds was in many ways an education for me, albeit coming from a very specific, opinionated, and constructed point of view. With the exception of several U.S. History courses in which the Vietnam War was usually covered quite sparingly, my only experience with the war has come from popular Hollywood movies, Broadway plays, and television shows. My father did not serve as he was a full-time student during the time period, and I have not talked with any other veterans of the war at length before.

While it is clear that watching a film gives me just one way of looking at the situation, I certainly was affected quite strongly by much of what I saw and heard onscreen. I found several of the conventions used by Davis to be very effective in creating an intensely personal and emotional way of viewing the events in Vietnam. Throughout the film, I was struck by the creative and often unexpected use of unique cinematography. The lectures and appearances by returning POW George Coker provided several examples of what I saw as well thought out visual framing that helped the viewing audience to connect emotionally to what was going on. Rather than focus directly on Coker as he spoke, the camera often drifts and zooms, capturing the faces of those listening to what he has to say. As Coker addresses a group of school-children, we get an extremely intimate look into their wide-eyed gaze and undivided attention towards him.

Several other scenes in the film struck me as extremely compelling visually in that they “said” more than what was actually seen onscreen. Just as the camera left Coker as he spoke to focus on audience reaction, the camera at times leaves the faces of animated veterans as they speak, zooming or moving down to reveal and focus on lost limbs and catastrophic injuries. The sheer number of intimate places and situations that were revealed and explored so clearly and closely onscreen also struck me and added hugely to Davis’ representation of events. Whether relying most heavily on news footage, or his own crew, I was extremely impressed with what seemed to be an amazing amount of access the filmmakers had into a variety of situations (from U.S. soldiers relaxing with Vietnamese prostitutes to images of troops burning down small village).

Other conventions used in the film help to create a strong connection with the audience while aiding in furthering the arguments presented. The lack of narration in Hearts and Minds was an important decision. By simply watching events unfold, and listening to experts, politicians, veterans, American protestors, affected Vietnamese, and many others throughout the documentary, the viewer is provided with several viewpoints on the war. While it is important to keep in mind that Davis and the films cinematographers and editors have control over how things are ordered, presented, shot, and portrayed, a strong argument can still be made that one is not forced to “choose” to agree with a single narrator’s argument (upon writing this I realize this is a dicey statement in that the “narrator” can really be seen as Davis in the form of the film’s auteur, yet in comparison to other films the spoken argument is much less direct).

In addition to the lack of narration, the film wisely uses strong, emotionally-charged statements from its subjects as well as the juxtaposition of highly contrasting quotations and video throughout to create its arguments. I was particularly struck by the statement, “We weren’t on the wrong side. We are the wrong side.” Two other examples from the film struck me as particularly moving and thought-provoking. In the first, we see a high school football coach preparing his team for “battle,” before the film returns to scenes of war. In the second, and what was to me the most powerful sequence in the film, the viewer is presented with a long, drawn out scene of a very young boy mourning the death of his father as he is laid to rest in a huge cemetery. The cries and wailing of the boy became nearly unbearable for me. Just when I thought I would literally have to turn away, the film cuts to Commander William Westmoreland who simply states that the “Oriental does not put a high price on human life.” *The clip can be seen below

Many of the conventions used in Davis’ 1974 film are used today by filmmakers who also wish to provide an argument against U.S. policy towards war. As mentioned earlier, I thought of Fahrenheit 911 while I watched Hearts and Minds. Michael Moore uses many of the same conventions: startling statements, the juxtaposition of highly contrasting video, creative cinematography (to a lesser extent), and what seems to be very personal access to many situations. It is where Moore deviates from Davis that we see where documentary seems to have taken a new turn; a turn towards entertainment or what might be called “edu- or infotainment.” Moore narrates the entire film himself, giving the audience someone to absolutely love or hate, and his film is full of pop music hits and quick cuts which may serve today’s audiences short attention spans more than the argument he is making. Interestingly, however, Moore returns to conventions used by Davis during the most important and often most heart-wrenching parts of his film. We are left with no narration and simply horrifying images and sound onscreen; something Hearts and Minds uses very successfully to impact the audience.