"I love the smell of napalm in the morning..."

For several years of my life I really felt that I wanted to go to film school and so it’s not surprising that most of my frame of reference for the Vietnam War comes from movies. I could tell you exactly where I was when I saw Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Born on the Fourth of July, and Deer Hunter. Though each one of these films has different ways of expressing it, I feel that the main theme portrayed through them all is simply this: war is hell. Sure there can heroism and friendship, medals and honors, but in the end those things don’t mean anything if you’re shot dead in the middle of a far away jungle. Young men were dying every day and they died wondering why they were fighting in this far away country and what exactly they were fighting for. Most of them were asking why they weren’t back in the States at a state school or working in the automobile factory with their father. And those lucky enough to come home were never truly able to come home at all, mentally or physically. These young men returned to their hometowns and instead of the great parades their fathers and grandfathers received decades before they were ridiculed and blamed for the horrible war. Their old friends could never look at them or treat them the same and the soldier’s couldn’t talk about the war without bringing back horrifying images and feelings. Time had not stood still at home as they imagined it in their heads, things had moved on without them there and they were forced to adapt.

One other influence on my thoughts about the war was my old neighbor’s dad, who served in Vietnam. I never remember him talking about his time there or even his military career in general. What I do remember is being 8 years old and wondering why my friend and his brothers always had to do push ups when they did something wrong. I always assumed that he was just really “mean” but now I realize how naive I was. He was able to return from the war, start a family, and live a happy, fulfilling life, something thousands of his brothers in arms were not able to do.

For more information on Vietnam films check out this site. It talks about different types of Vietnam films and gives an extremely comprehensive list of films dealing with the topic.