Far from Vietnam

For all the rhetoric spouted in this passionate protest against American involvement in Vietnam, it's the dreadful simplicity of the combat footage that has the most powerful effect. The opening sequence, for example, which juxtaposes US preparations for an air raid and the terrified response it evokes in Hanoi, makes for chilling viewing over 30 years on. There's undoubted socio-artistic integrity in Jean-Luc Godard's emotive confession and Alain Resnais's assessment of the war's morality, while the film is edited with supreme propagandist skill by Chris Marker. Far more revealing, however, are the American TV clips exposing the extent to which the nation was divided by the conflict.