Vietnam: A Television History

Only the Ken Burns production of "The Vietnam War" exceeds this documentary in overall excellence. Using contemporary accounts recorded in the early 1980's, this film series consists largely of interviews of the combatants, the leaders, the politicians, and many of the other participants from all sides who experienced the war.

This film is an honest, genuine, and unrestrained story of the effects the Vietnam war had on those who fought it, those who ran it, and those who were among its victims. It chronicles the experiences of those most affected by it, from the average American soldier and Marine who fought it, and the Vietnamese villagers who became its victims, all the way to the political leadership who managed it, including Dr Henry Kissinger himself.

I feel that if you were to watch only one documentary about the Vietnam war, this one wouldn't be a bad choice...and not just because it's narrated by one of my favorite voice-over actors of all time, Will Lyman (The voice of the "Most interesting man alive" adverts).

Or to CNN's recent "Cold War" series, which was produced by the same creative team who brought the realities of World War II so memorably to television in the 1970's.

This documentary series, co-ordinated by "chief correspondent" Stanley Karnow, was definitive. In my opinion, it was even better than Michael Maclear's excellent Canadian-made mini-series, "The Ten Thousand Day War".

Ho Chi Minh died in 1969 and now lies in state, just like Lenin or Mao, in his mausoleum in downtown Hanoi, less than a kilometre from the Lenin Monument on Dien Bien Phu Street.

Except for Ho, and Richard Nixon, every other major personage connected with the war seems to have co-operated in the production of this series. The producers also obtained interviews from scores of other participants and eyewitnesses. The war is covered thoroughly all the way back to its origins in French Indochina after the First World War when the Versailles peace treaty failed to recognize the aspirations of the Vietnamese.

It hardly seems so long since it first aired, but even after 15 years this PBS series holds up extremely well.

Not a bad television series. However, this program is mainly a political history of the war and not really a military history. True Vietnam War buffs will be disappointed by it's very brief mentioning of the Ia Drang battle, Khesanh siege, etc. There were NO mention of the battles of 1966. Some of the legendary battles of the war such as Dak To and Dong Ha are brushed aside.