Review of In the Year of the Pig (1969) by Scott R — 19 Nov 2016

One of the 1001 Films to See Before You Die, this was an excellent documentary about a war I realized I knew little about. How it started, and how we were slow-boiled into an inferno without understanding what the conflict was about. The attitudes about other cultures exhibited by famous military and political leaders I had read about before were surprising to me., and partially explain in a way I had understood before, one of the key reasons why we were there. The military and political leadership figures mistook a willingness to die for their country as a sign of the North Vietnamese not caring about the value of life. So, this gave us license to carpet bomb and destroy villages at will. Of course, this came back to bite us, because of the aforementioned determination to win at all costs by our so-called 'enemies',.

This dynamic pervades the film. If we could see a similar film about, say, Syria, it would be enlightening. I'll look for one.