Wednesday, September 24, 2014

OPTIK: HEARTS AND MINDS


Peter Davis' emotionally charged documentary HEARTS AND MINDS (1974) may be the most powerful anti-war statement ever set to film.  It is essentially a film about meaningless endeavors whose outcome produced nothing but human suffering amidst politics, ideologies,  and yes,  real people.  It is also about our loss of innocence when a war's sights and sounds clog the media for the first time as they exploded deep within our then nearly institutionalized compliance to government.  America's blind compulsion to win at all costs is at the crux of the matter here,  be it war,  sports or business. The idea of victory over that dehumanized "other" seemingly willed soldiers to commit  atrocities for no other reason than "they were",  equating killing a "gook" as something mindless,  but essential.  After the Vietnam War it seems we demanded a collective amnesia until 9/11 brought the "other" spiraling back.  If only our shared humanity could lead to better choices.

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