War has become perpetual, enemies are re-invented and our daily lives are inextricably tied up in an oil-soaked economy. These films urge viewers to consider our personal and collective roles in addressing the costs of conflict, especially as these wars continue around us.
These are stories of resilience — by listening, we learn from our history without losing hope that humankind can find a more peaceful and tolerant way of life.
The Boys Who Said NO! is the first documentary film to profile the young men and women who actively opposed the military draft in order to end the Vietnam War. The film shows how their personal and collective acts of nonviolent resistance were a critical part of the antiwar movement, intensifying opposition to the war and eventually forcing an end to both conscription and the war in Vietnam.
In the ,an anti-war movement emerged that altered the course of history. This movement didn’t take place on college campuses, but in barracks and on aircraft carriers. It flourished in army stockades, navy brigs and in the dingy towns that surround military bases. It penetrated elite military colleges like West Point. And it spread throughout the battlefields of Vietnam. It was a movement no one expected, least of all those in it. Hundreds went to prison and thousands into exile. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam. Sir! No Sir! aims to change that.
In this, the first of his 58 documentary films, famed journalist John Pilger combines candid interviews and amazing frontline footage of Vietnam to portray a growing rift between the US military bureaucrats — “lifers” — and the soldiers who physically and mentally fight the war on the ground — the “grunts”. Filmed at Camp Snuffy in 1970, The Quiet Mutiny presents a character study of the common soldier during the Vietnam War, revealing for the first time the shifting morale and open rebellion of Western troops.