Vietnam Movie Analysis

The Vietnam War is the most controversial war in the history of the United States. There are very few events in the history of our country that compare to the views and passion behind the American people during the war. The war was exploited both people who felt strongly against the war as well as those who were pro war. The war touched every single person in this country, regardless of where someone came from they had an opinion about the Vietnam War. With all these feelings lead to many movies and T.V. shows being produced reflecting the directors views. We have seen both perspectives of the war on the big screen throughout the class. However we see a major difference in the type of film based on what year that film came out.

Movies in the

This is one of the types of soldiers that came home from Vietnam. They want to prevent younger people from making the same mistake that they did. They do this by speaking and protesting. This is a major part in all of the anti-war movies that we have seen. In this movie we see a little of both. We see both Luke protesting by physically locking himself to the Marine recruiting base as well as speaking to the group of students. This is the focus of movies that are produced in the late 70’s. They push anti-war themes in many ways. Whether it’s highlighting the soldiers such as Luke or such as Bob who at the end of the film can no longer cope with his PTSD and swims out into the ocean to what we can assume is to die. This is shown on the big screen to scare viewers at the time to stop supporting a war that is corrupting the minds and permanently damaging the bodies of our youth. The actions that are depicted in this film are pretty accurate to what was actually occurring in the country. For example the conditions that the VA hospitals, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs: “Vietnam Veterans may have been exposed to a variety of environmental and chemical hazards that carried potential health risks.” This can very easily been seen in the movie based on the shots of the wounded vets lying in bed. The funds for these hospitals were not readily available

It was time for a change and in the early 80’s new movies began to come out with a positive outlook on the war. One of the most famous is Rambo First Blood II. In this film we find Rambo in a prison yard crushing boulders when his old commander finds him and informs him he can get Rambo out of prison if he agrees to come on a mission in Vietnam. Rambo agrees ending the scene with the famous line: “Do we get to win this time?” When Rambo gets to Vietnam he meets Murdock, a white collar politician who seems to be very pro-war. Rambo’s mission is to scout an old Viet-Kong POW camp and take pictures to make sure it is no longer being used. He is told not to engage in any enemy. When Rambo gets to the camp, he and his Vietnamese guide, Co-Bao, discover that there are still American troops being held. With this information Rambo takes it upon himself to rescue his comrades. As he and the found POW reach the extraction point the helicopter flies in to pick Rambo up. When Colonel Trautman calls in that Rambo has found and American Murdock calls of the chopper leaving Rambo and the POW surrounded by Viet-Kong. Rambo is captured by the North Vietnamese along with the communist Russians aiding the Viet-Kong. They are taking to a camp where Rambo is tortured and forced to call Murdock. Instead of giving Murdock the message that the soviets want him to say Rambo tells Murdock that he is coming