Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Allumination
• VHS Release Date: January 18, 2000
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1575237725
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,367 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The long ordeal of Americans held captive in North Vietnam is chronicled in this informative and frequently moving documentary from the Discovery Channel. Perhaps the best known of the former prisoners of war, Arizona Senator John McCain appears in interviews and makes the point that the real heroes are the ones who never made it back home. But despite the modesty expressed by McCain and others, there are plenty of heroic tales contained in the stories of survival against conditions that ranged from harsh to utterly brutal. The men speak honestly of being beaten and tortured, and of their efforts to cope. Despite the sadness and understandable bitterness that arises, an inspiring sense of humor often permeates the recollections.

Propaganda films shot by the North Vietnamese jailers are shown, with the prisoners commenting on the circumstances in which the films were made, explaining what their captors hoped to accomplish and what the prisoners hoped to achieve by deviating from the script. This is an intelligently produced documentary that, while avoiding sentimental patriotism, cannot help but be inspiring. More than 25 years after their release, the prisoners sound as defiant as ever, their determination in the face of adversity undiminished by the years. --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely touching and intensely thought provoking., May 31, 2001

By 

Dan Simpson (Layton, UT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vietnam Pow's: Stories of Survival [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film was masterfully done and has brought to light a whole new level to the Vietnam P.O.W. By hearing the ways in which the men survived from their own mouths, especially with film footage backing them up, one can receive a much better understanding of just how brutal it was. As someone who was not alive during the Vietnam War and merely hears stories or reads books about it I was able to begin to understand how the populace of America might have felt as I found myself holding my breath for these men as they were being prepared to be brought home. A wonderful film.