Vietnam

I have no idea how I messed this TV series when it was screened in 1987. I am an Australian and a military historian and had never heard of this magnificent Australian TC series until I discovered it on YouTube.

The historical accuracy is amazing. !

It focuses more so on the politics of the time of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam war. What really struck me was the actors cast to play the parts of the Australian politicians of that time... Not only did they look like the real persons, but actually sounded like them as they spoke.

I found everything authentic... the uniforms weapons etc..

The filming sites were obviously in Australia going by the vegetation, but otherwise, accurately depicted the actual landscapes of Vietnam .) I lived in Vietnam a number of years)

Nicole Kidman appears in this series, her earliest film appearances. She was 20 years at the time and perfectly portrayed a typical Australian 15 year old girl as her character was. At the time of this film, she spoke with typical Australian accent... her own... but as years passed her accent now sounds more like a refined British person.

Back to the series... this is very well done. I have no idea how I did not know this series existed until this week. I guess I don't watch that much TV back then..

I highly recommend it for viewing.

9 STARS !!

I recently got this sent from Australia on Region 4 DVD Box Set. Released Aug '05? I remembered it from the mid 80's mini series and was intrigued to watch it again. I would disagree that the opening episodes are slow and boring, it has to be like that to give sufficient time in the story to show the politics of Australia and Australian society. You couldn't just rush into the war footage without the background context (espcially the decision to have conscription). Maybe a fault of TV drama is to gloss over the context in search of a good story, but I don't think that has been done here. There is a young Nicole Kidman playing the lead female role and a capable cast of Aussie actors in support. Most would be familiar to viewers of Aussie soaps and mini-series of the period. Overall a watchable min-series.

Absolutely awesome seen a second time around - brought me to tears which takes a lot of doing - I wonder if we'll be looking at the same sort of movie about Iraq/Afganistan in 20 years time & wondering why the hell we were there. Fascinating to see Nicole Kidman in her first major film role. I do feel that the American soldiers were stereotyped as rapist, drug using murderous bastards - that was the only scene that didn't ring true. Listening to the 70's music was great. I was still at high school in England when the Vietnam War was happening - Seeing it from an Australian perspective is different. I now have a 21 year old Vietnamese girl as my daughter in law - her parents were both refugees after the war so it all seems a lot more personal.

I would like to reinforce the previous reviewer's comments.

This is a significant piece of film-making and deserves greater recognition.

The cast represents a large proportion of Australia's best talent of the period, many of whom have moved on to more widely known roles. Barry Otto was never better. Nicholas Eadie, John Polson and Mark Lee defined the youth of 1960s Australia. Jim Holt (I think) was a superb psychopathic special ops spook.

If Nicole Kidman wasn't a star after BMX Bandits, she was following the release of George Miller's Vietnam.

Bring the DVD RIGHT NOW!

It's 2.30am and I've just finished watching this again. I was an Australian "grunt" with the 3rd Battalion in Vietnam 1971 and although most of the war was boredom, this is without doubt the most realistic portrayal of the Australian side of the war that you will see. Admittedly, it's the entire 10 year war condensed into one persons life, but if you try to imagine yourself in the shoes of a young 20 year old, you may get a glimpse of what it was like. The politics, clothes, civvy life, emotions, conscription, protests and the war were very accurate. This isn't your usual gung-ho macho shoot'em up Hollywood Rambo movie. It's about as close as you'll get to what it was like during the war. The most amusing part is the fact that Nicole Kidman wasn't even born when we were fighting the war! Yes - it is slow in parts, but this movie isn't about macho heroes. It's about simple 20 year olds like me who never wanted to hurt anyone, but were sent to a place where there were virtually no rules. We were dropped by chopper into a jungle and we could kill anyone who wasn't one of us - no questions asked. If you want to see the real thing, then this is the one to watch - NOT Rambo!!