BBC documentary - The Vietnam War

EssexBoy · 11 Oct 2017 at 11:01

Is the bluray version uncensored does anyone know?

ianh · 11 Oct 2017 at 11:42

The US blu-ray is NOT censored but the UK is only getting the 18hr DVD according to Amazon, and for the same price as the blu-ray (UK shafted again). I bought mine from the US amazon site for about £60.

US Blu-Ray - https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-War-Burns-Novick-Blu-ray/dp/B06ZZC6G2B

UK DVD - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vietnam-War-Novick-Complete-Boxset/dp/B075N2CQM3

ianh · 13 Oct 2017 at 23:55

Wow, Episode 8 is a very hard watch (not sure if BBC will show the full version), the colour images of the dead at the My Lai massacre (old, young, babies etc) and the Kent University attack (National Guard shot into the crowd) really got my anger building, and that emotional response shows just how well made this doc is!

physichull · 15 Oct 2017 at 22:20

Can anyone recommend me a good book that covers US soldiers Vietnam experiences? In a similar vein to Citizen Soldiers et al?

chris020 · 16 Oct 2017 at 11:44

Up to Ep 6 and its excellent, worrying that I remember quite a lot form the time. If memory serves John Pilger reported from there for UK TV

JediFragger · 16 Oct 2017 at 12:14

Thanks for the heads-up on this, will check it out!! First 2 eps have 9 days left on iPlayer.

easyrider · 25 Oct 2017 at 00:39

This is one of the best Doc series I have seen

Limpnoodle · 25 Oct 2017 at 04:29

I want to watch it but 10 hours is a lot, i know it wiil be good but cant assign that much time

hudson86 · 25 Oct 2017 at 10:01

physichull said:
Can anyone recommend me a good book that covers US soldiers Vietnam experiences? In a similar vein to Citizen Soldiers et al?

Not read Citizen Soldiers, but great Vietnam books -

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien ( probably my favorite )
A Rumour of War - Phillip Caputo
Dispatches - Michael Herr
Chickenhawk - Robert Mason
A Bright Shining Lie - Neil Sheehan

Matterhorn is supposed to be excellent, but not read it.

A number of those authors also appear in interviews in the series, haven't watched past ep4 yet, need to catch up.

arc@css · 25 Oct 2017 at 23:38

Also really enjoying this at the moment. I'm up to part 6.

Can only have been hell on earth, like all wars.

DXP55 · 26 Oct 2017 at 10:33

Johnson and Nixon got my goat - all they were interested in was being re-elected - Another thing was the bull headedness of the parents of the youth - They were living in WW2 territory - Vietnam was a totally new type of warfare..

Good documentary and should be mandatory watching in all schools.

If anyone here hasn't seen "The world at war" then they should do so.

arc@css · 26 Oct 2017 at 17:34

So few people in power are seemingly selfless, which is what I think a person in that position needs to be, otherwise, there's just the usual repeat of personal gluttony for wealth and power - driven by their ego.

Sadly, of course, that then affects millions +.

corkhead · 26 Oct 2017 at 17:42

Has the iplayer stopped showing the first two episodes?

Only see 3-10 now

corkhead · 26 Oct 2017 at 17:44

JediFragger said:
Thanks for the heads-up on this, will check it out!! First 2 eps have 9 days left on iPlayer.

Ahh... balls..

ttaskmaster · 26 Oct 2017 at 17:54

physichull said:
Can anyone recommend me a good book that covers US soldiers Vietnam experiences? In a similar vein to Citizen Soldiers et al?

Is there a specific area of interest you have?
Reason I ask is that, just as with most WW2 books, personal accounts will only tell the story from the author's perspective and it will often differ wildly from that of another author in another unit with another main role.
However this does mean you can tailor your reading. Living History forums and the like can often advise, there.

If you're after shorter accounts, cherrieswriter.wordpress.com has quite a few to get started on.

DXP55 · 26 Oct 2017 at 20:26

When you get to episode 10 make sure you have enough tissues.

Meridian · 26 Oct 2017 at 20:49

corkhead said:
Has the iplayer stopped showing the first two episodes?
Only see 3-10 now

Shows made overseas are on only iPlayer for 30 days IIRC for copyright reasons.

Sunbed · 27 Oct 2017 at 12:03

DXP55 said:
When you get to episode 10 make sure you have enough tissues.

I'm only on 8 and at least three episodes have set me off already!

DXP55 · 27 Oct 2017 at 12:23

Glad I am not the only one who gets emotional over all these soldiers (north -south and US) who are reliving their horrors for this documentary.

Sunbed · 27 Oct 2017 at 14:02

DXP55 said:
Glad I am not the only one who gets emotional over all these soldiers (north -south and US) who are reliving their horrors for this documentary.

Yeh it's those bits that get me, intermingled with tapes of Nixon making it obvious that he considers the war just another part of his political game. What a crook! He puts the worst characters in Game of Thrones to shame.

It must have been frustrating to live in the US when half the people thought being anti-war equated to being 'commie loving' and unpatriotic. I try to picture being at a student rally against the war and the police start shooting people dead... in the US!! Unbelievable that actually happened.