|
MY LAI
American Experience, 2010
What drove a company of American soldiers--ordinary young men from around the country--to dehumanize and murder more than 300 unarmed civilians? Were they "just following orders" as some later declared? Or, did they break under the pressure of vicious war in which the line between enemy soldier and civilian had been intentionally blurred? Today, as the United States once again finds itself questioning the morality of actions taken in the name of war, Barak Goodman focuses his lens on the 1968 My Lai massacre, its subsequent cover-up, and the heroic efforts of the soldiers who broke rank to halt the atrocities. My Lai draws upon the eyewitness accounts of Vietnamese survivors and the men of Charlie Company and recently discovered audio recordings from the Peers Inquiry to recount one of the Vietnam War's darkest chapters.
On the morning of March 16, 1968, a company of American soldiers entered the village of My Lai, located in Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam. Frustrated by their inability to directly engage the enemy and emotionally devastated by the ongoing casualties their unit had sustained, the men had been told that this was their chance to finally meet the Viet Cong head on. By the end of the day, they had shot and killed between 300 and 507 unarmed and unresisting men, women and children, none of them apparently members of the enemy forces. Most of the survivors hid under the dead bodies of their families and neighbors. The incident, subsequently known as the My Lai Massacre, would only come to light more than a year later, when shocking photos of the atrocities were splashed across the pages of national newsmagazines and the evening newscasts, further eroding public support for the war in Vietnam.
The U.S. Army commissioned an investigation, eventually charging over 20 men of wrongdoing. The commission concluded that there had been widespread failures of leadership, discipline and morale. On March 29, 1971, Lieutenant William Calley was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison, causing a firestorm of public outcry. Anti-war Americans saw Calley as a scapegoat for a corrupt military; those in favor saw him as a dedicated soldier who had only been carrying out orders.
Public sentiment overwhelmed the White House, and President Nixon ordered Calley released and confined to his quarters pending a review of his conviction. In total, he ended up serving four and a half months in a military prison. Captain Medina was acquitted, having denied that he gave any orders for the massacre. None of the other military men initially charged were ever convicted.
My Lai had a lasting impact on a war-weary American public. Demands for withdrawal from Vietnam continued to grow, while others questioned the idea of blind loyalty to military leadership, the effectiveness of a military draft for finding suitable recruits, and the wisdom of a war whose success was measured on the nightly news by body counts. Today, the My Lai Massacre is still considered the worst case of an American war atrocity.
Written, Produced and Directed by: Barak Goodman
Edited by: Nancy Novack
Associate Producer: Jamila Ephron
Camera: Stephen McCarthy
Original Music: Joel Goodman
Film Website | Film Trailer
NY Times 4/25/10
... The story of the killings and the subsequent cover-up is also vividly theatrical: a three-act drama of idealism, horror and slow, fumbling justice. It is told superbly by Barak Goodman in his documentary "My Lai," a presentation of PBS's "American Experience" on Monday night.
The dense and complex tale goes beyond the actions of the American soldiers — from Charlie Company of the First Battalion, 20th Infantry — to explore the nature of combat in Vietnam. The documentary also delves into faulty intelligence and failures of command (as well as flashes of heroism); the cover-up, investigation and series of trials; and the poisonous domestic politics of late-1960s America.
Mr. Goodman has had to leave out a lot, and many viewers may fault him for this or that omission. But any reasonable viewer should be amazed by how much he has been able to fit within the limits of a 90-minute television documentary. (Some will wonder why the role of the journalist Seymour Hersh in exposing the massacre is not covered. At a screening of the film last week, Mr. Goodman said that Mr. Hersh turned down his request for an interview.) ...
For years now the Vietnam War chronicler Oliver Stone has been trying to get his own My Lai project, titled “Pinkville” (the American military designation for the My Lai area), off the ground. If it ever happens, it’s hard to imagine it will be any better or more moving than “My Lai.”
| 
