Seldom has a film seen by so few caused so much consternation for so many.

[understandinglife]

Los Angeles - Like a live hand grenade brought home from a distant battlefield, the 34-year-old antiwar documentary "Winter Soldier" has been handled for decades as if it could explode at any moment.

Now, the 95-minute film - which has circulated like 16-millimeter samizdat on college campuses for decades but has never been accessible to a wide audience - is about to get its first significant theatrical release in the United States, beginning on Friday at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. (Other bookings, including Chicago, Detroit, Hartford and Minneapolis, can be found at www.wintersoldierfilm.com.)

Its distributors say that the war in Iraq has made the Vietnam - era film as powerful as when it was new, and its filmmakers are calling it eerily prescient of national embarrassments like the torture at Abu Ghraib. Seldom has a film seen by so few caused so much consternation for so many years.

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When it was made at a three-day gathering in 1971 of Vietnam veterans telling of the atrocities they had seen and committed, major news organizations sent reporters but published and broadcast next to nothing of what they filed - prompting the veterans to organize what would be a pivotal antiwar demonstration in Washington a few months later.



Photo credits: Sheldon Ramsdell/Milliarium Zero of Rusty Sachs, a Vietnam veteran, from the 1971 antiwar documentary "Winter Soldier."

From Film Echoes the Present in Atrocities of the Past by DAVID M. HALBFINGER on August 9, 2005.

More at the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/movies/09wint.html?8hpib=&pagewanted=print

Fortuitous timing given the planned demonstration on Sept. 24, 2005 in DC and the events of this week in Crawford.

Matthew Donaldson, an independent visual artist from Auckland. “On this, the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima's bombing, my grief for all of those murdered and yet to be murdered by America's weapons - of mass destruction or otherwise - overwhelms me” said Matt.

It overwhelms me, as well, Mathew.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I had never even heard of it before. Thanks!

[understandinglife]

2. In a way, I am very glad that it has not had wide distribution ...

... until now. It will be quite disturbing to anyone whom sees it and, hopefully, by September 24th, will have helped inspire millions of folk to march in DC and elsewhere throughout the Nation and the world.

WATCH IT; SPREAD IT http://www.bushflash.com/right.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[yurbud]

3. I hope the "winter soldier" is still in John Kerry

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[understandinglife]

4. "In February 1971, one month after the revelations of the My Lai ...

... massacre, a public inquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam was held at a Howard Johnson motel in Detroit. Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this event called the Winter Sodier Investigation with support from Jane Fonda and Mark Lane. More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed. "The major that I worked for had a fantastic capability of staking prisoners," goes one piece of testimony, "utilizing a knife that was extremely sharp, and sort of fileting them like a fish . . . . Prisoners treated this way were executed at the end because there was no way that we could take them into any medical aide and say, 'This dude fell down some steps.'"

Though the event was attended by press and television news crews almost nothing was reported to the American public. Yet, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement. It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated, including the young John Kerry. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed him and his comrades forever. Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes the film Winter Soldier an unforgettable experience.

A collective of filmmakers - Frederick Aronow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Kopple, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay Rubenstein, Nancy Miller Saunders and Michael Weil - recorded the event, and produced this extraordinary documentary. Acclaimed at film festivals around the world, the film was rejected as too incendiary by U.S. television and played only on New York's local public television station, WNET. Since then, only a few screenings by the filmmakers have kept the legacy alive.

Now, Milliarium Zero is rereleasing Winter Soldier in theaters across the country beginning with its opening in New York in August 2005. There will be a DVD commemorating the 35th anniversary of the original Winter Soldier Investigation to be released in early 2006.

http://www.wintersoldierfilm.com

Our government has been very, very effective at keeping the truth away from the people.

We The People ... need to do something about that, and we are.

They can't ignore us or shut us down. Thank god for the Internet.

The mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government. Without the Internet, we wouldn't really know what is going on. We the people have to cause the change. I never got involved before because I didn't know one person could make a difference. But now I know that one person can make a difference. Thanks to all of you.

Cindy Sheehan, blogger conference call, Crawford, TX, August 10, 2005

http://www.peacecandy.com/gwbush/remindus
REMIND US

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[hiley]

5. Winter Soldier was on Sundance Channel

before the November election.
It is excellent.

[mattclearing]

6. Too bad there's no DC screening.

I'd have checked it out. I'll have to wait for the DVD, it seems.

[understandinglife]

8. I've emailed them ....

Good afternoon,

Firstly, thank you for widely distributing "Winter Soldier."

I request that you screen the movie in Washington DC on September 23 or 24th.

On the 24th, a major demonstration against Bush's illegal war of aggression on Iraq, will be held in DC.
http://chapelhill.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/15539.php

Peace,

Perhaps others will also email them and request a showing in DC. Address is winterfilm(at)aol.com

Thank you.

http://www.peacecandy.com/gwbush/remindus
REMIND US

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[hiley]

13. Great idea!

Thank you.
:applause:

[EVDebs]

18. SF Bay Area needs this. It along with The Corporation doublefeature

night at the movies !

[schrodingers_cat]

19. Just forwarded this link to a beloved local Bay Area venue, EVDebs..

hope they pick it up....They've shown much grace and fortitude in their vocal opposition to this damned war.

[mattclearing]

20. Man, the Corporation is a double-feature in itself.

That movie is long.

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

7. Any chance of placing as download on Archive.org or similar?

Who owns the copyright? Are they trying to maximize profit or exposure?

[hiley]

9. Been searching since yesterday morning but can't find

it.

[understandinglife]

10. They've placed a 'press kit' online and here is the direct link ...

... to the .pdf file:

http://www.wintersoldierfilm.com/WinterSoldierPK1.pdf

They clearly want the word spread and I was rather amazed that such a lengthy article appeared in the NY Times -- probably the result of some very effective marketing.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[hippywife]

11. Today on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

She will be talking to Rusty Sachs about the movie and the war:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4793878

[hiley]

12. From the PDF

What the veterans insisted over and over was that America knew better than to do the things it was doing in Vietnam…the veterans were asking America to listen to its own much-touted morality, and to begin to practice what it had spent two centuries preaching. At the same time, though, the veterans were careful to point out that the war crimes the Unites States was committing in Vietnam did not stem from the misconduct of individual soldiers – which the government had tried to establish by scapegoating Calley and a handful of his fellow Officers –but resulted rather ‘from conscious military policies…designed by the
military brass, National Security Council, and major universities and corporate institutions, and passed down through the chain of command for conversion into Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the field.’
The hearings was monumental in its revelations, exposing for the first time that the US ...
snip---
http://www.wintersoldierfilm.com/WinterSoldierPK1.pdf

[understandinglife]

14. From the Village Voice, August 9, 2005:

If Milestone isn't quite the runaway winner of stateside art-film/retro theatrical and video distribution ... it's not for lack of kudos — a New York Film Critics Circle citation and National Society of Film Critics nod, and now ....

.... their most prescient release might be Winter Soldier, a rarely glimpsed document, shot and assembled by an anonymous filmmaking collective, of the 1971 "Winter Soldier Investigation." A month after the news of My Lai shook Americans rigid, over 100 returned vets testified in a Detroit Howard Johnson conference room that My Lai was no aberration, but a paradigm of U.S. activity in Vietnam. The resulting first-person-witness assault demonstrates, in the fashion of Shoah, that being told can be more lacerating than being shown; we experience not only the atrocities but the shock waves felt by the witnesses and the emotional venom that still necrotized their lives. Not that the sympathies lie only with the terrifyingly calm and earnest speakers; every story is a story about farmers butchered as a kind of sickened imperial bloodsport, and the bootprint the movie leaves might be the deepest of any 'Nam doc.

.... Of course, no news outlet would cover the event, and no distributor or broadcaster would touch the film record. Whoever saw it in 1972 saw it at the Whitney; after that, only WNET threw it on once unannounced as a replacement program. Otherwise, the 15 filmmakers—including Barbara Kopple and David Grubin—have had to host private screenings themselves. So, what was intended to be a public turning point in our knowledge of the war's true nature was effectively run underground — which makes the film imperative viewing in 2005 (if not, unfortunately, in 2002). The afterlife of the Vietnam home front experience indicates that we saw it all in our living rooms, or in Hearts and Minds — but, no, we didn't. A Winter Soldier screening should be a voter registration requirement.

by Michael Atkinson on August 9, 2005

Link:

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0532,atkinson2,66679,20.html

And, why Milestone decided to distribute under Milliarium Zero:

Milestone Film and Video co-founders Dennis Doros and Amy Heller can thank the fragility of the Kerry campaign and the ferocity of the extreme right for helping launch their new politically minded company Milliarium Zero and its first release, Winter Soldier. After John Kerry won the Democratic nomination, Film Forum's Karen Cooper considered showing the devastating 34-year-old documentary. But after worrying that it might do more harm than good for Kerry, Cooper lost interest, allowing Doros and Heller to pick it up. "We're really glad it didn't show last year, because it's not about John Kerry — it's about the horrors of war," says Doros.

The New Jersey–based couple had always planned on distributing the film through their widely respected Milestone label. But, says Heller, "because the right is well funded and very litigious, it became clear that the best way to release it was to have a separate corporation that would protect the assets of Milestone just in case the Swift Boat Veterans want to make trouble." Now under their new banner Milliarium Zero, Heller and Doros say they can take on riskier material. They're currently looking to acquire Seasoned Veteran, a portrait of Winter Soldier and acquitted Gainesville Eight member Scott Camil.

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From Indie Distributors Celebrate 15th Birthday With a New Milestone by Anthony Kaufman August 9, 2005

Link:

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0532,reelnews,66680,20.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[BamaBecky]

17. I hope I get to seeit!...n/t

[understandinglife]

15. indieWIRE review

The name for Doros and Heller's new outlet (Milliarium Zero) translates as "zero milepost," named for the official landmark opposite the White House in Washington D.C. "Winter Soldier" will open for a week run at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater on August 12th, followed that night by a panel featuring 10 filmmakers and at least five of the soldiers.

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"We are disturbed by the lack of discourse in the United States -- caused, perhaps, by a general lack of commitment and passion, anxiety about being in a minority, fear of our own government, and feelings of apathy and paranoia." Continuing (Doros) added, "There are brave filmmakers and distributors out there who are trying to make a difference and we want Milliarium to be part of this effort."

From Doros and Heller Set Release of "Winter Soldier" to Launch New Company, Milliarium Zero by Eugene Hernandez

Link:

http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_050728mill.html

Peace.

[understandinglife]

16. "'Winter Soldier': War Says It All"

I am not planning to review Winter Soldier, because it revealed an interesting phenomenon I do not think I have experienced in 25 years of moviegoing: The film is unreviewable.

It unfolds in long, slow, terrifying fits; it hints at nothing; at its most symbolic, it represents a culture's repeated failure to learn from its own heinous historic mistakes. It is art inasmuch as it was photographed. My only technical quibble is only that it could stand to have 10 or 15 minutes trimmed out for pace. And the Winterfilm Collective of filmmakers that was gracious enough to film the gathering in the first place should never have tacked on its self-serving reunion "chat" at the end. The viewers would much rather see the soldiers reunited, and hear their perspectives on the youth their government eviscerated for the sake of future wars.

But assuming we will never have that, we have the sharp swell of emotion that simple words extract. When a recollection is powerful enough for you to shield your eyes, and when you look back up at a screen that seems to have doubled in size to accommodate the magnitude of its message, there is a certain magic in the room.

From 'Winter Soldier': War Says It All by The Reeler on July 25, 2005

Link:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thereeler/archives/005158.html

Peace.

[Karenina]

21. Kick!

:kick: