Touches You

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Lyrics excerpt - "All we are saying is - Give peace a chance." This is a picture about war - And, believe me, it isn't a pretty one.This was a war that the Americans had no business being in.This was a war where two-faced, US President, Lyndon Johnson promised his gullible citizens that American involvement would only last for a few months.This was a war that endured (under direct US occupation) for 10 years (1964-1974) and took the lives of 60,000 American military men (with 300,000 wounded) - Not to mention the dead Vietnamese.This was a war where blacks (and other racial minorities), along with under-privileged whites, were the ones sent to the front lines to fight.This was a war that was condoned by 2, hypocrite, US presidents (Johnson & Nixon) in order to save political face.Through interviews, narration, and archival footage - This is a mighty powerful re-telling of the reality of that war, which, as you'll see, is like nothing that Hollywood has ever shown you.

I came to this thread late, as I have just finished watching a couple of episodes this morning (looking for the possibility of seeing some of my unit on film). I wasn't going to post, but after reading the opening comment, I felt I had to.Having "been there, done that", I can vouch for the brutality and finality of war - not the reason. While the war was ultimately lost as a result of Washington's policies and the limitations put on us in the way of target selection and operational freedom, it does not diminish the sacrifices made by the soldiers, both enlisted and conscripted, as the writer (whose greatest sacrifice would most likely be doing without that second latte) so blithely intimates. His post has to be the most hypocritical drivel in history - taking the term "pious" to unimaginable heights. The poster is obviously a product of our more recent public school system, where the only history taught is the revisionist version designed to minimize the innate goodness of America in favor of the progressive view of the US as warmongering for no apparent reason. This snarky diatribe serves only to highlight the staggering naiveté of today's youth - full of angst and anger, while having no greater generation problem to deal with than a cell phone battery going dead in the middle of a mindless tweet.Stop trying to place your narcissistic slacker "Millennial" spin on history, and go back to your PlayStation, where you can play shoot-em-up all day without the consequences of return fire....news flash - real life doesn't come with a reset button.

Did I miss something here? This was an excellent production. As some stated, a 'must see' for students of history and those interested in the Vietnam War. It's a recollection, a compilation using home movie footage, archival footage, material released through FOIA, and plenty of other sources never before assembled together to present a very personal view of what it was like to fight in Vietnam and to be at home waiting for the loved one to return.A personal view. Judging by the criticisms of others here, complaining that the series is too patriotic or pro- American, I have to say, did you watch the same documentary as I did? Simply because the production focuses on American soldiers in this conflict does not make it jingoistic. It simply means it's from a perspective. Good grief, lighten up. What I saw were personal stories, stories of men asked - no, make that ordered, drafted into action for their country (in this case, the United States). Action most neither asked for nor wanted. Yet, action they fulfilled nevertheless. What I did NOT see was the flag waving jingoism many here are complaining about. If anything, this documentary illustrates the futility of that conflict and how the American leadership lacked the moral justification to order young men into battle. Yet, the men who were ordered to do so, did the best they could under the worst of circumstances, only to come home to the misguided anger, hate and violence of American protesters, which some of the comments here seem to side with. This is a well produced, illustrative and interesting production on the personal side of Americans in Vietnam, right up there with the outstanding works of PBS's "Vietnam A Television History" and Stanley Karnow's companion book.Like I said above, ignore the critics. See it.

What strikes me most about this series is how it is possible, even necessary, for Americans to take this most colossal of domestic and international blunders and attempt to ennoble it with fancy language about "buddies" and "honor" and "sacrifice" and other words that are, shall we say, incompatible with the utter annihilation of generations here and there.To say this series is bad would be incorrect. What it is, is somehow disgusting jingoism. The fake-dramatic music, the lap dissolves, the Times Roman font, the narration of simplistic statements made to sound deep by the hammy-sounding readers - it is deeply repellent, even more so than the earlier "WWII in HD" was repellent. One should learn from his mistakes and correct them. That's something Americans don't seem to understand. War-mongering is only compatible with victory.Reviewer's update: The series ends with a predictable paean to militarism from the veterans featured in the series, which is grossly offensive, comparing those who returned from the modern catastrophes in Iraq and Afghanistan (the latter ongoing) to themselves. They have, I suppose, the right to this opinion in compensation for their respective ordeals. But at least this conclusion is a consistent ending to a series that attempts to ennoble a moral, political, and societal catastrophe. This is simply not possible. Those who are predisposed to accept that America is a militaristic state with the God given right to throw its destructive weight around regardless of consequences, will find the series compelling. Those who prefer the position of Washington, Jefferson, Grant, Eisenhower, etc. will be filled with a combination of remorse and revulsion.