Must See Film: Sir! No Sir! --->>>

[Stephanie]

I saw a screening of this docu last night at a benefit for Iraq Veterans Against the War ( http://www.ivaw.net/ ) and it is an amazing film depicting the untold history of servicemen who rebelled, protested, refused orders during Vietnam. I had no idea! Fascinating film. A must see! I highly recomend it.


http://www.sirnosir.com/

In the 1960’s 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. And by 1971 it had, in the words of one colonel, infested the entire armed services. Yet today few people know about the GI movement against the war in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War has been the subject of hundreds of films, both fiction and non-fiction, but this story–the story of the rebellion of thousands of American soldiers against the war–has never been told in film. This is certainly not for lack of evidence. By the Pentagon’s own figures, 503,926 “incidents of desertion” occurred between 1966 and 1971; officers were being “fragged”(killed with fragmentation grenades by their own troops) at an alarming rate; and by 1971 entire units were refusing to go into battle in unprecedented numbers. In the course of a few short years, over 200 underground newspapers were published by soldiers around the world; local and national antiwar GI organizations were joined by thousands; thousands more demonstrated against the war at every major base in the world in 1970 and 1971, including in Vietnam itself; stockades and federal prisons were filling up with soldiers jailed for their opposition to the war and the military.

Yet today, with hundreds of thousands of American GIs once again occupying countries on the other side of the world, these history-changing events have been erased from America’s public memory.

Sir! No Sir! aims to change all that. The film does four things: 1) Brings to life the history of the GI movement through the stories of those who were part of it; 2) Reveals the explosion of defiance that the movement gave birth to with never-before-seen archival material; 3) Explores the profound impact that movement had on the military and the war itself; and 4) Tells the story of how and why the GI Movement has been replaced with the myth of the spat-upon veteran.

Sir! No Sir! is a film that challenges deeply-held beliefs not just about the Vietnam War and those who fought it, but about the world we live in today. It is a vivid portrayal of William Faulkner’s famous observation that “The past isn’t dead; it isn’t even past.”

[Stephanie]

1. no seriously, you have to see it

the film pretty much lays the end of the Vietnam War at the feet of the soldiers. It was almost mass mutiny. And the price they paid! Many went to jail for years, just for speaking out.

[Stephanie]

2. you don't love a good documentary?

seriously?

[nonconformist]

3. Thanks for the heads up, I would love to see this

Unsurprisingly, it's not showing anywhere even remotely near me. I'll have to wait to catch it on DVD. I wonder when it will be available.

[Stephanie]

4. If it sells well in the big cities it will get picked up by distributors

I think it should be huge in New York. It was sold out last night. But it was a fundraiser.

[faithnotgreed]

5. its not in dc for another month but i will definitely go see it then

thank you for posting about this/the fundraiser

[Stephanie]

6. Do you know Iraq Veterans Against the War?

A great organization and so eerie to see this handsome young man who leads the IVAW in NYC, and then watch the movie and see these handsome young men in the 60's, on the same mission, waging peace. And then the vets from the film were there at the screening, some of them, and they're in their sixties now. And we're fighting the same fight, all over again.

[faithnotgreed]

10. i very much do - donated to them not long after they first organized

i think it was 2004 wasnt it

so it was especially great when you reported that ms fonda was part of the fundraiser
thank you again for posting all this information

[Stephanie]

12. they are awesome

and the other day I saw there was an anti-war group at West Point? Same thing happens in the film. It's deja vu all over again. sadly.

[0007]

20. It won't be long now. The shit will hit the fan! You can bet on it.

[Booster]

7. Thanks for posting about this doc. I will certainly look for it and

check it out as soon as I can. I kind of get the feeling that we're seeing this from our military about Iraq - at least I certainly hope so. They are the only ones who might possibly stop the insanity.

[Stephanie]

9. If they follow the lead of their generals they just might.

[johnaries]

8. Ooh! Playing at the Belcourt in Nashville May 12th! Thanks!

I'll mark my calendar and tell everyone I know, especially the 1 or 2 that still support Bush.

Thanks, again! :hi:

[xxqqqzme]

11. Alright, it's going 2 B in Irvine on May 5!

[genie_weenie]

13. Unfortunately, those Troops who have not EAS

will never be able to organize this way. Because with the advent of 'contracts' and the elimination of the draft, too large a segment of society holds the unbelievably obtuse theory, 'Well, they signed the contract. They gave up their rights. Whatever the government chooses to do to them is their fault.' So, troops are exposed to depleted uranium, JP-5 and JP-8, tested with non-FDA approved vaccines for a phantom threat and so forth...

[Stephanie]

18. What about the stop-loss orders?

The Natl Guard who never imagined they'd be deployed so long. We have a de facto draft now anyway.

Has anyone filed a class action suit on depleted uranium? I'm trying to search it but I don't see anything.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. I wrote my senior thesis in history on underground GI newspapers

during the Vietnam war. When newsletters are included, there were literally thousands of them, and there's a good reference book for them.

There's also an interesting white paper called "The Collapse of the Armed Forces" which basically outlines the full-scale troop mutiny in Vietnam, 1966-1971. It was written not by some lefty radical, but by a hawk colonel in the Pentagon! That's where they seem to be getting some of these figures.

On edit: here's the link to the white paper: http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/heinl.html

[Stephanie]

15. I had no idea

I really didn't know. The only thing I knew about it was throwing the medals. You must see this film!

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. Here's an excerpt from Colonel Heinl's paper

"It is a truism that national armies closely reflect societies from which they have been raised. It would be strange indeed if the Armed Forces did not today mirror the agonizing divisions and social traumas of American society, and of course they do.

For this very reason, our Armed Forces outside Vietnam not only reflect these conditions but disclose the depths of their troubles in an awful litany of sedition, disaffection, desertion, race, drugs, breakdowns of authority, abandonment of discipline, and, as a cumulative result, the lowest state of military morale in the history of the country.

Sedition – coupled with disaffection within the ranks, and externally fomented with an audacity and intensity previously inconceivable – infests the Armed Services:

At best count, there appear to be some 144 underground newspapers published on or aimed at U.S. military bases in this country and overseas. Since 1970 the number of such sheets has increased 40% (up from 103 last fall). These journals are not mere gripe-sheets that poke soldier fun in the 'Beetle Bailey' tradition, at the brass and the sergeants. 'In Vietnam,' writes the Ft Lewis-McChord Free Press, 'the Lifers, the Brass, are the true Enemy, not the enemy.' Another West Coast sheet advises readers: 'Don’t desert. Go to Vietnam and kill your commanding officer.'"

Again, the link: http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/heinl.html

[Stephanie]

17. The underground papers are a big feature of the film

Thanks Al Gore for the internet! Those guys had to type, mimeograph and distribute. And if they were caught with a copy, off to the brig!

[movie_girl99]

19. I just e-mailed Landmark theaters

and asked if they have any plans to screen the film in the largest city near me. I received a reply. Here is my e-mail and her reply.



Dear *****,



This film is not on our schedule for the Magnolia or the Inwood. Check out our website in a few weeks. Ya’ never know!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: movie_girl99
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 10:41 AM
To: !Publicity
Cc: [e-mail].
Subject: Sir! No Sir!



Good afternoon,

I would like to know if there are any screenings of this film planned for Dallas. I noticed from the films website that there are other Landmark locations in Chicago, Atlanta and Washington DC showing the film. Please let me know if you plan to add it to your Dallas Theaters. We are regular movie goers to both Magnolia and Inwood theaters and would love to see this film come to our city.



Regards,



*****

[Stephanie]

21. The director was at the screening I saw

and he said that the theaters wait to see how the film does in NY, so maybe they will book it after the number come in. It should do very well here.