Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Vietnam in HD

by Kevin Surbaugh


Vietnam in HD is a special event that will air on the History Channel this November eighth, ninth, and 10 at  9:00PM Eastern and Pacific. The program is produced by Lou and Scott Reda along with supervising editor Sammy Jackson.
Twenty-four million viewer watched WWII in HD when it premiered in 2009. Like the previous project, for Vietnam, History scoured the globe for very rare and "never-before-seen" film, much of which was shot by soldiers themselves while in action. The press packet states the following:
Thousands of hours of uncensored footage, detailing every critical chapter of the Vietnam War, were located, restored and then transferred to High-Definition. The dynamic footage combined with powerful storytelling will provide the viewer with an immersive experience and perspective on this war as never before.
I must say as I watched the screener (which contained the first episode) I have to agree. As a history buff I love hearing what real veterans of the war had to say, and weave in actual film shot by the veterans' own  cameras. Wow! What a great way to learn things of this war that we just don't learn from the history books in school. It is great hearing veterans own words their thoughts of reflection on the war as well as hearing actors read letters the younger veterans wrote at the time of the war.
One veteran I really enjoy in the first episode is Barry Romo, who currently lives in Chicago, IL but at the time of the war called San Bernardino, CA home. Romo is currently and activist and leader of Veterans Against the War.  Other veterans to tell their stories include Joe Galloway, Keith Connoly, Charles Brown, Raymond Torres, Karl Marlantes, James Anderson, and Bob Clewall. In addition, Anne Purcell the wife of another veteran from Boneville, MO discusses her late husband who served in the conflict.
I agree with what Romo says in the footage about real war not being the same as you see in the movies. You don't fight a battle and go back to the barracks and give each other high fives. Instead, you may spend 30-35 days out in the field. However, this documentary isn't just about the war itself. It includes footage from home and President Johnson's press conferences, and even protestors are part of this documentary.
This production is narrated by Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall. I highly recommend that you tune into this well produced documentary beginning Tuesday November eighth. It isn't a program you'll want to miss any of.  I know I certainly can't wait to see the rest of it. The two-hour screener barely whet my appetite for what is to come.
During the process of writing this review after watching the first two-hour segment I have been asked how are the show's various episodes organized. Since I didn't see the last four hours I wasn't really sure. However, I put the question to When asked about the series structure Ashley Fidler with the History Channels media department said:

"There are three days of episodes, November eight, nine, 10 at nine pm ET/PT. Each episode is two hours long (six hours to the docudrama total). The screener you received was the first two hours of the three day series so the rest of the series will be similar to the screen you received, plus four more hours of never-seen footage."

So to answer the question that was asked me I guess, I would say the entire six-hours are a Hodge-podge of never before seen video clips interwoven with interviews with 13 of the actual veterans, with a structure as follows:


  • The Beginning (1964-1965)/Search & Destroy (1966-1967) airs 11/08/2011




  • The Beginning (1964-1965) airs 11/09/2011




  • Search & Destroy (1966-1967) airs 11/09/2011




  • The Tet Offensive (1968)/An Endless War (1968-1969) airs 11/09/2011




  • The Tet Offensive (1968) airs 11/10/2011




  • An Endless War (1968-1969) airs 11/10/2011




  • A Changing War (1969-1970)/Peace with Honor (1970-1975) airs 11/10/2011

    The two-disk DVD/Blu-Ray release date will be Nov. 15. 2011.



    Article also published as TV Preview: Vietnam in HD on Blogcritics.
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    My name is Kevin, and that's what I think. What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

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