Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Hearts and Minds is a landmark anti-war documentary that uses devastating juxtaposition — Westmoreland's infamous 'Orientals don't value life' remark cut against grieving Vietnamese families — to create a visceral, morally urgent indictment of U.S. policy. Its plot/structure is exceptionally crafted for a documentary, weaving archival footage, interviews, and on-the-ground reportage into a coherent and damning argument. The cinematography captures extraordinary and harrowing real-world imagery, earning its Oscar. Novelty is high because its confrontational editorial approach was bold and distinctive for its era, setting a template for activist documentary filmmaking. Acting is N/A as a documentary but the subjects' candor and the filmmaker's ability to elicit revealing testimony rates above average. The ending, while powerful, resolves somewhat abruptly as the war itself had no clean conclusion at time of release, leaving the film feeling slightly unresolved.