This movie, though made by Canadians, applies to the entire world. (If you don't want to read about the entire movie, you probably don't to read any further.) France, Russia, Vietnam, and Bosnia are shown as the effects of four different wars, with France being affiliated with the First World War, Russia with the Second World war, Vietnam with the the Vietnam war, and Bosnia with the Bosnian siege of Sarajevo. The movie shows you what normal people are doing to try to clean up after wars, even if those wars were more than 75 years ago. In France, we are shown as some demineurs dig up rusting shells from two world wars. In Russia, we meet a man who makes his living finding the bodies of German soldiers from Germany's failed attempt to conquer Russia. In Vietnam, we are shown the effects of Agent Orange, a herbicide that contains dioxin, that still affects Vietnam today. In Bosnia, we meet a deminer who finds the land mines and shells from a war less than ten years past. After all this, we are given some things to think about at the end of the film, and we are left with the question of why we do not heed the lessons of the past. According to this film, the United States dropped more shells on Vietnam than were dropped on all the countries by all the armies in the Second World War. What lesson did they learn from the past? France estimates it will only take 700 years to completely remove all the shells from World War One. How long will it take the Vietnamese? This would be an excellent film for George W. Bush to see before he declares war on another regime. For all that this movie is depressing and takes the excitement out of war by showing the aftermath, it is a lesson that all world leaders should take a look at. The facts are true, and the viewpoint is that of the common people. I'd say that this is one of the most moving movies I have ever seen, especially since it's not Hollywood. I doubt that Hollywood could have ever made a masterpiece such as this, since they have no real ability to show that the US is being slightly unfair to Vietnam. Hollywood has a slight bias towards the US, and thus many important details would be left out.
