Customer Reviews

Inside the Vietnam War

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not an all inclusive documentary or very thorough. It's shown from a U.S. military viewpoint with interviews of surviving U.S. veterans. It's all on one disc and about 2 and 1/2 hours long.
It picks up the war in the early 1960's with JFK sending military advisors and ends with the fall of Saigon in 1975, with veterans giving thier recollections for the battles and the time periods they served.
The battle footage is excellent, hard hitting, and not for the faint of heart (lots of blood and gore).
There are interviews with some very famous veterans. Colonel Hal Moore (who Mel Gibson portrayed in the movie "We Were Soldiers"). Philip Caputo, who wrote an excellent early account of his experience in Vietnam, "A Rumor of War". Retired General Barry McCaffrey, a military analyst for Fox News, I believe, are the three I knew of.
I'm a 22 year Army veteran. I joined the Army in 1972 but didn't go to Vietnam (by the the time I went into basic training in April 1972, the U.S. military's commitment in personnel there had dropped way down to around 50,000). But,as a teenager in the mid to late 1960's, I watched the war unfold on the nightly news and wondered after I turned 18 would I get drafted and go there. This war had some meaning in my early life, of course no way like those who actually served.
The recollection of some of the veterans gave me a lump in my throat and misty eyes. Very powerful emotional stuff.
But on the negative side. There are no interviews with any surviving NVA soldiers or Viet Cong, or any South Vietnamese.
It doesn't cover at all how Vietnam became divided in 1954 or the French involvement prior to that. The political wrangling and protests in the U.S. are covered just enough to get the jist.
This is still a very good documentary. Very powerful.

This is the best Vietnam documentary I've seen so far. It is a good source of history on why the United States entered into that war and its consequences. The documentary narrates step by step from the beginning of the Vietnam war until its end in 1975 with excellent footage. I highly recommend it for all those who are interested in knowing the "truth about this war."

I bought this for a friend who needs to occasionally revisit his experiences in Viet Nam. He has shared it with many of his friends who went through the same trama. This is the one you want to watch if you want to see and hear the recollections of the fighting men from this War. Be warned that this will bring tear to your eyes.

I've read all the reviews, I've seem all the movies and Documentaries,nothing comes close to what Viet Nam was like for the Combat Vet. I served 3 tours in Viet Nam and what this does not show like all the others, was the smells and oders of the dead and dying ,that is something you can never forget or never describe. The true sounds of the war. What it felt like to see your best friend in pieces on the ground. I to was a Volenteer, and came back 3 times total, not because I loved it but I was young dumb and single. I really thought I could save a Dad with kids from going over. War is War I won't go into the details this missed or was right about it. When I came back from my last tour I was in the Hospital For over a Year. During the last few month I was able to leave the hospital for afew hours, that I loved , what I hated we were not allowed to wear our uniforms off base. Seems they were offencive to many of the locals. The things that went on in that country cost me alot , my first heart attack at 29, 3 bouts with cancer, at 61 I can bearly walk, but that is ok I am better off then many. For many many year I hate what the war did to me and others , I hated the way We were treated when we came home, I hate the fact that many more died after coming home from everything for cancer to taking their own lives. For year I could not stand watching how good the troops were treated when they were coming home from other wars, I felt cheat again, I was jealous. Two weeks ago that all changed. I was in a Fry's store (a supermarket ) It was Vetern's week so Had on a Viet Nam vet hat and shirt. I was standing looking at something and felt a light tapping on my back. I turn to find what looked to be a brother and sister maybe 7 to 8 years old, they looked up at me ( i could see just alittle fear in their eyes ). The little girl said to me "Welcome Home and the Little boy put out his hand for me to shake and said to me " Thank you for Serving ". I know it was the parents that told the kids what to do and say. I thanked them both with a salute and a thank you and spent the rest of my time in the store with tears in my eyes. That meant more to me then all the metals, everything. If you want to change a Vets life especially a Viet Nam Vet next time you see one please just take a second and say "Welcome Home " thank you for your time and to All Vets From All Wars, THANK YOU AND WELCOME HOME ,,,,,,,,,,

Inside the Vietnam War is AN EXCELLENT FILM based on true and/or actual events that happen during a trying time in US history. Having a lot of friends and associates serve in the war gave me a better understanding of what actually happened and a disturbing opinion about the people behind the decision making in the white house.

However, more importantly, this film gave me a better perspective of the way the US media reported events and how they tried to manipulate US citizen's public opinion about this war. We should be outraged. The part of the film that showed Walter Cronkite indicating the TET offensive was a "stalemate" was treasonist. Although I do not remember the exact numbers, the body count of the offensive was overwhelmingly in favor of the Americans. Somewhere near 100,000 enemies killed to less than a thousand Americans. In addition, there was not one single offensive launched by the Vietcong (VC) and/or North Vietnam Army (NVA) that the American military did not overtake and win. NOT ONE. And this is undisputed.

In the end, war is HELL. But you go to war to win. And if successfully killing the enemy is an indication of winning the war, then the American military was overwhelmingly successful. The final numbers are mind-boggling; over 1.5 million VC/NVA (and unfortunately Vietnam citizens) to roughly 58,000 American military personnel.

We all should be proud of our American men and women in uniform. They did not ask to go there; they were told and given orders. They obeyed, did their job and did it well. We should be more worried about our decision makers and policy makers than our military.

This film should help everyone become more informative about this war.

During the war I was young (and immature) and didn't really understand all that was happening except for the nightly updates.
I found this film to be helpful in the chronological order of things. It also gave me new insights into the problematic duration of the war. One being the change of four very different American presidents during this time. There never appeared to be a clear cut
plan on what the objective was except to kill as many NV as possible. Very sad and harrowing to see what our fighting men and women went through and how the South Vietnamese were "left" to fend for themselves.

This is MUCH better than the History Channel DVD on The Vietnam War, with FAR better organization and clarity.

If you like National Geographic specials, you'll be impressed with this as well. The best I've seen on this subject.

I remember seen the evening news on this topic. This is the war put in perspective and in detail. It looks more like a great news-magazine with plenty personal accounts. There are some limited comments on the politics of the time. And some limited evaluations of the strategic situation. Then, it occurs to me that may be there was no much strategy to talk about. Anyway, I fell it was short on strategic and political perspectives. Perhaps that is why it is called "inside".

So, I just got this dvd and I thought it was pretty decent but nothing that hasn't been covered before. This was somewhat generic as far as the information goes and there wasn't real great combat footage. There were many scenes of actual footage but not much engagement. I think they left out the graphic stuff because this was originally on tv. Also, like every other Vietnam documentary, it excludes most of the war crimes committed, especially anything mentioning agent orange. But aside from all this, the documentary was well done, it definitely wasn't boring and the footage was very crisp and clear, obviously remastered because this is a newer documentary. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a solid and well rounded documentary of the Vietnam War.

This was for my husband who really likes history and stories of actual events so he really wanted to own a copy of this and share it with grandkids and others who would benefit from this horrible war/conflict our country was involved in.
He said it was well done!