First Kill - Vietnam War Documentary 5/8

What is the psychology of war? Do soldiers become murderers when they enjoy killing? Is war beautiful? Are all humans capable of monstrous acts? FIRST KILL examines these and other questions, as it explores what war does to the human mind and soul.

Interviews with several Vietnam veterans evoke the contradictory feelings that killing produces - fear, hate, seduction and pleasure. FIRST KILL also includes a discussion with Michael Herr, the former war correspondent who wrote the screenplays to Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, and wrote Dispatches, the best and most important book about the experiences of the combat soldier in the Vietnam War.

For the last ten years Herr has refused to give any interviews, but in FIRST KILL he descends into his own dark experiences one more time. "If war was hell and only hell and there were no other colors in the palate... I don't think people would continue to make war," he says.

For other people war is just work. Immediately after taking his well-known photograph of a Vietnamese general shooting a Vietcong soldier in the head, Eddie Adams went out to lunch. Other Vietnam veterans talk about similar numbing experiences, many of them continuing to suffer nightmares and are still struggling with their traumas. On the other hand, former "tunnelrat" Billy Heflin openly admits that, despite his aversion to war, he is addicted to killing, and longingly recalls his wartime experiences.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• vietnam
• war
• documentary
• psychology
• killing

[pritchardhall]

Brool: You watched the movie? You watched the MOVIE?!  and now you know all about the Vietnam War!? For God's sake son. How about if I base my opinion of you on 3 seconds of your life? Three seconds that I get to choose, not you. And based on my opinion of those three seconds, you either live or die? Grow up.

[tienluat]

@balisong209 You are not our enemies. You are living for my country, killing, looting, arrests. We only against those atrocities and this aggressive. from Vietnam

[FLICKtheUSA]

The real heroes of vietnam were the draft evaders.

I hope there's a war with Iran, started by Israel that the US has to finish. When they bring back the draft I'll bribe somebody and evade it. :)

This fucking country isn't worth fighting for.

[DrKaiju2000]

@sass225 That is true but that takes years to happen.The United States shouldn't be the country that assists in changing a nations ideology.If a country truly wants change, they must get it themselves through their own revolution or whatever means they take.

[sass225]

what the news didn't tell the American people about the guy the police cheif shoot was that the guy had just murdered a police officer who was realated to the cheif.

[sass225]

@DrKaiju2000 Yes you can but not with bullets the way you defeat an ideaology is to give the people a difernt one that they can see will make there lives better than the opponets will we failed in doing this. millions of vietnamesse did want american democracy and free interprise system for there country. to have the american dream to improve your life and that of your children.

[GnosticHumanist]

A great book about a war journalist who has a nervous breakdown because his ability to rely on the illusion of distancing himself from the killing by looking at it through his camera is destroyed when his colleague is killed - similar to what Michael Herr is talking about above - is 'Triage' by Scott Anderson.

Highly recommended.

[dks442]

Well, boo-fucking-hoo.Have any of those posting ever read about the way our downed + captured pilots were treated by the enemy? If not, do some research....

[moocowpunk]

this life is one played out joke.

[TheTwoRandoms]

3:49 to 3:57 GHOST TO THE GUYS LEFT HIDDEN ON THE TREE THUMBS UP IF YOU SEE IT.

[pitchingwedge1]

We have been lied to since birth by the system of control that has brainwashed our minds and killed our souls. Its called the millitary industrial complex and it dictates government.