By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: David Zeiger
Country: united_states
Year: 2006
Running time: 71
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469589/
Bruce says: “FTA…Fun, Travel Adventure…Foxtrot, Tango Alpha…Fuck The Army. That is the evolution of the initials that were first used as an Army recruiting slogan in the early Vietnam years. As the war escalated and the troops began to see the pointlessness of the killing and destruction, FTA became the slogan of the revolt from within the Armed Forces.
“To tell his story, Director David Zeiger carefully weaves today’s talking heads in with the archival footage of the same people during the Vietnam War years. The research and tracking down of key players must have been an awesome task. The overall result is a very focused and informative documentary about the slow but ever-so-effective anti-war movement among the troops and veterans. One measure of dissatisfaction was the number of those who walked away while on the job; during the Vietnam War there were 503,926 soldiers who deserted. Jane Fonda is one of the talking heads and her son, Troy Garity, narrates the film along with Ed Asner.
“Initially, many soldiers did not know how to voice their opinion from within an institution that demanded that ‘you do as you’re told.’ Questioning authority was unthinkable. The first signs of dissent began as anti-war coffeehouses were set up outside of Army bases across the US. The Oleo Strut (named for the shock absorbers in the landing gear of a helicopter outside of a base in Killeen, Texas, was the prototype. Other incipient signals were being sent from individuals who were not afraid to speak out against the war. Howard Levy, a doctor, was jailed because he refused to teach basic dermatology to Army personnel who used those skills to superficially treat the Vietnamese, giving a false impression that the United States cared about their health. At the same time, troops were spraying the countryside with Agent Orange and dropping Napalm on villages. Louis Font became the first West Point graduate to refuse to serve in the war while he was in graduate school at Harvard.
“SIR! NO SIR! also relates how the anti-war movement began among the black Armed forces, how blacks, who were fighting for some type of abstract freedom abroad, were not being treated equitably at home. Zeiger uses a specific incident involving Billy Dean Smith as an example of how blacks were used as scapegoats. Smith was acquitted of ‘fragging’ (the practice of enlisted men killing officers with a fragmentation grenade) charges brought on strictly because of his color.
“Finally the veterans began a network of anti-war activities as they returned home form Vietnam and Cambodia. How the veterans reacted is not remembered accurately. Today, history has been rewritten. Stories about how soldiers returning from Vietnam were spit at by hippies are part of our folklore. No such incidents were ever reported in the media at the time. The only place any reference to such incidents can be found is in a ranting soliloquy by Sylvester Stallone in RAMBO. This part of our history is based on fiction.
“Zeiger makes his points simply and carefully. Success in Vietnam was measured in body counts, a practice that the war makers of this country have abandoned because of the perceived consequences when the general public knows what is going on. No such mistakes are being made in Iraq. According to Rumsfeld, ‘We don’t do body counts.’ 4 cats”
Esmé says: “This movie floored me. The history makers have done a really good job erasing the GI anti war movement from the public consciousness-so much so, that even the left wing propaganda says ‘we support the troops’ so that the returning soldiers don’t get spit on on their arrival home. Turns out this is a myth, and from what I could tell, the GI (FTA: Fuck the Army) movement was the driving force behind ending the war. This movie was original, articulate (the interviewed were by and large extremely well-spoken and covered a spectrum of army doctors to grunts) and truly, inspiring. This movie is hugely relevant,
especially now, during our current war, and EVERYONE should see it! See it for the Jane Fonda FTA Tour clips and the great underground subversive army anti-war newsletters, and to see someone say ‘Draft the government officials!’ Right on! 4 cats.”