Customer Reviews

Vietnam - A Television History [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I was a huge fan of this series when it first aired on PBS in 1983 and I taped the whole thing. So when it came out on DVD I thought I'd invest in the new format, seeing as my tapes were now 20 years old and I wanted to be able to watch it again and share it with others without fear of it disintegrating.

Boy, was I in for a letdown. First of all, this edition is loaded with commercials. That's right, commercials. That was the last thing I expected to see on an expensive DVD set. But no, every episode is prefaced with no less than 2 commercials: one for Liberty Mutual and one for the Scott lawn care company. I could have lived with a brief mention of the companies that funded the series, but not only are these full-blown commercials, they aren't even the companies that funded the making of the series! WGBH has sold commercial time to companies who had nothing to do with the making of this docmentary. If that weren't enough, we get to see the same commercials at the end of every episode, followed by a plug for PBS. I paid $60 for this???

But the most shocking thing about this set is that it's been edited down from the original series. I couldn't believe it. I haven't had a chance to compare every episode on the DVD set with my old tapes, but there is a segment near the end of episode 1 that has been deleted. In the original episode 1, a French colonel being interviewed about Dien Bien Phu talks about the end of the infamous seige and refers to the Viet Minh as "Red Termites". This has been lopped off the DVD version. I can only dismay at the thought of other expurgations. Was it purged for political correctness or to make room for the commercials? I can't say. I don't yet know if the other episodes are similarly truncated, but in my opinion none of them should have been. This series is too important to let commercial expediency diminish its journalistic integrity.

Thank goodness I still have my old tapes. Now I think I will digitize them onto DVD so I can preserve the work in the form the film maker intended.

Typically, DVDs offer added features that are not found on a film's/program's earlier VHS version. At the very least, one expects a DVD to offer the same content as the video. The producers of this DVD set, however, evidently decided to buck that trend. If you are looking for the same content that the original historical and influential video series contains, DO NOT buy this item.

The first episode alone reveals several omissions, such as the "red termite" remark mentioned by another reviewer. (The remark, a memorably racist statement by a French official, clearly depicted the attitude of at least some of the French leadership at the time, who saw the Vietnamese rebels as "termites" --vermin to be exterminated. Not an unusual mind-set in colonizer/colonized relations.)

Another blatant omission concerns the French exploitation of Vietnamese rubber plantation workers. Here, the DVD not only edits out footage of workers in a plantation (with extremely vivid images of the slicing of tree bark to extract the rubber), but it omits an entire interview with a Vietnamese national who describes the brutal treatment suffered by rubber workers. This man recalled a popular expression of the time in which the plantation workers were known as "fertilizer," because so many of those who died were buried beneath the trees among which they toiled. Unless you see the video, though, you'll never know this--because the DVD cuts all of it out.

The edits I have seen so far (episode one) clearly seek to minimize Vietnamese suffering under the French colonial system. I can only imagine what the later episodes omit. The producers seem to want to put a fresh "spin" on their documentary-watering down harsh imagery and language, and thus sanitizing the war. This is a shameful achievement, and one that I find hard to believe PBS condones. It is all the more appalling given the stature of the original program.

If you want the real thing, then get the VHS. And put pressure on PBS to release the series on DVD in its true, original form. It's worth noting that, on the PBS website for the documentary, even the official program transcript has been altered to reflect the "new and improved" version. Why would this highly touted documentary seek to rewrite its own lauded history? Are there political pressures at work? Who knows-maybe these questions will lead to the creation of a new documentary. One that answers the question: Why did American Experience and PBS gut their own masterpiece?

I am a fan of this series and when I found out that the DVD was out I immediately purchased it. Unfortunately, I was completely let down. There were way too many commercials and the 4 dvds only comprise of 11 hours as oppose to the 13 hours of the original series. The original series had 13 episode but the dvd version only has 11 episodes. They are missing episode 13 which is suppose to be titled "Legacies". This was an extremely important episode that should not have been taken out because it was the final conclusion. It's like watching a movie and missing the last showdown. There is also another episode that was taken out but I don't remember which one.

"Vietnam - A Television History" is more than a source of information about the Vietnam War, it is a fine example of early 1980s television documentary and provides insight to the thoughts of a nation when the documentary was released. Unfortunately, you lose that insight to early 1980s America by releasing an altered version. No material is "outdated" from a historian's prospective and it is a shame that the producers of "The American Experience" did not realize that before releasing this "revised" edition.

By removing what they considered "outdated" material, PBS has alienated many who would have been more than glad to buy the whole series on DVD in the original version, ourselves included.

Objecting to the deletions has nothing to do with one's personal view on the war or with "secret, inside information". It has to do with ethics. All of the material in the original series was relevant to an understanding of the many perspectives of a very complex situation. Cut that out, and you lose some of that perspective.

This is another instance of public television selling out to the right and fearing to air something because it might be "unpopular". "Now with Bill Moyers" discussed this in depth before it was yanked; get transcripts of this show, or do a google search on "Moyers, Democracy in Danger" and read his address to the National Conference on Media Reform.

Check out the running time of the DVD package (660 minutes), and that of the VHS tapes (780 minutes). Unbelievable!

Firstly, the ads are very brief and inoffensive. They're the sort of message you see before most shows on PBS these days and are virtually unnoticable to anyone who is exposed to media on a daily basis. Given the annoying studio adverts we have to watch before every conventional movie these ads are lost in the noise. Furthermore, you can fast-forward them!

The issue of the ommissions from the original is more difficult for me to address, but although I also remember watching the series years ago I haven't noticed even the slightest change in the overall theme. It's still nearly 11 hours long, which should keep you out of trouble for a while.

Some reviewers have predictably attacked this series for it's content, but I am under the strong impression that in most cases it is because of the fact that it does not fit within a preset world view. As a historian myself, I can vouch for the fact that all historical works (even those created with the best intentions) are at least somewhat biased. It is dangerous to expect any work of history to be completely comprehensive.

The harsh truth of it is that Vietnam was a truly unique war in how it was recorded. Never before or since has a human conflict been given such attention both during and after, and because of this we get a unique glimpse into what war does to people. We now live in an age where spin has been perfected and those that would ask us to march off have learned their lessons about controlling information. For that reason alone this series is worth the investment.

This video set is OK for what it covers, but needs the rest of the story. The only time South Vietnamese appear, with the exceptions of former Premier Ky and a refugee, they are former VC to brag or civlians to mewl about the horrors suffered -- always at American hands. American policy is -- ad nauseam -- footage of presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon on the domino theory.

As a six-year project completed in 1983, it is probably what is to be expected in that the Hanoi government was not about to let former ARVN officers or So.VN government officials in front of a camera. In that context, one wonders how much the content was edited (censored or permission to interview denied) by Hanoi. Meanwhile, all NVA and VC always fought as heroes and heroines.

The NVA/VC side still use the same tired rhetoric about defeating "imperialism" as if the US gained anything in land, materials or other resources from South Vietnam, as an imperial power would. No clue of this is demonstrated, or any comprehension how much it cost; hence the communists interviews show no idea they were fighting politics of idealism, as an opposite to economic imperialism or colonialism. Had they still not figured this out in the early 1980s -- so immersed in their own propaganda version -- or was this just the expedient side of saying it?

Were the subject not so tragic, some of the interviews, especially the communists, would be humorous. One claims to have killed three Americans in a single battle with his bayonet! Why bother to leave such content in the interview, unless one wants to discredit the interview without stating the obvious or to illustrate the over exuberance of victory? Any idea how rare American bayonet deaths were in Vietnam? Another says communists never killed anyone who surrendered to them! Another says he led the team that temporarily captured Saigon's main radio station during Tet. One of his wounded SUBORDINATES TELLS him to go find out if they should stay and fight -- when out of ammunition -- or set off their explosives! This is his reason for not being still with his men when they blew themselves and the building up.

Khe Sanh almost does not exist and then as a sideshow of Tet. General Giap repeatedly is inteviewed. The carrot of similarities to Dien Bien Phu were raised by the Americans and he took the bait. Four NVA divisions, a total of about 40,000 troops, plus more as support personnel were not available for Tet. They were sucked in and chopped up so badly by the Marines and by air power that they never again confronted Americans in a conventional large land battle even when they had superior numbers. Giap never says anything about this; he apparently was either never asked or the answer was edited out, and nothing is said about it in the commentary. Giap got three of four divisions shredded. Are we to conclude he still did not understand a dozen years later?

While the villagers permitted to be interviewed all complain about the Americans and to a lesser extent the ARVN troops, there is a decided lack of complaints about the assassinations, "taxes," theft, conscription, forced labor, torture, rape and abuse by the other side. Again, what happened to the rest of the story? Curiously, two interviewed veteran raises important points; but there is no answer. The subject simply changes. Why did the civilian population always use the roads when they knew them to be mined? Indeed, why so few civilian mine casualties on trails and roads? Would the VC warn neutral or opposition civilians of all mine locations? When the civilian population, willingly or unwillingly, had the VC in the village, disguised as civilians in the middle of a war, why did they think it legitimate to complain about being treated with distrust? Do the uncooperative villagers -- indeed, liars ("I know nothing. No VC here.") expect better? Again curiously, while being told of treatment ranging from harsh to atrocious, footage being shown in three places is of suspects smoking while held for interrogation. (What is wrong with that picture?) Rather than visual images contradicting the words, why not skip both?

Without going further into specific examples, this is good for overview, for the other side's perspective, for the U.S. government's perspective, and for general history as an intro -- allowing that 'television history' is an inherent oxymoron. Take its content with lots of grains of salt and look to other sources for details and for the parts of the story omitted from here. One wonders what the content would be like if this project was redone after more time has passed, if the interests not presented are included, with more depth, with less selective editing out and with more thoroughness.

I have an incomplete set of the original VHS edition and came here to see if the series had finally been put onto DVD. I am very disappointed to learn that not only has it been edited, it comes with advertising by sponsors not associated with the original production.

I will wait to see if the original series is ever re-issued on DVD and will search for the missing titles of the VHS series on eBay.

That PBS would edit, change the content! No Way BIG way having a friend that used to edit Frontline at WGBH what is the surprise, you should see what hits the cutting room floor, so to speak.Hey don't get excited it is the new speak now a days you can't have a war without a lie. Aparently it has to be applied to the past. There was a great scene which showed a US Army Sgt bathing a child in a large white enameled basin as the mother looks on in horror. You know, win the hearts and minds of the people. The Army is doing this to 'teach' the people to bath not knowing that Vietnamese people bath twice a day. The reason the mother was shocked - the basin is for cleaning vegatables and would never be soiled by washing someone in it. They wouldn't cut that would they? Great 1965 circa footage the stills won a Pulizter.