Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 18 July 2017
Burns sees Vietnam War as virus,

documentary as vaccination

By HOLLY RAMER mean numeral figures, but Burns said while he doesn’t
Associated Press biographical figures that buy into the notion that his-
HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — Film- will stagger their view of tory repeats itself, it’s clear
maker Ken Burns views the what was, and hopefully that human nature doesn’t
Vietnam War as a virus that get everybody, regardless change. And he acknowl-
infected Americans with of political perspective to edges that many of the
an array of chronic illnesses let go of the baggage of themes his series explores
— alienation, a lack of civil the superficial and the con- are uncannily relevant to
discourse, mistrust of gov- ventional,” Burns said. the present.
In this Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, file photo, Ken Burns, from left,
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Lynn Novick speak at PBS’ “The ernment and each other. Having been blamed for “If I backed up this conver-
Vietnam War” panel at the 2017 Television Critics Association And he hopes his new doc- the war itself, many Viet- sation and said, ‘OK, I’ve
press tour in Pasadena, Calif. umentary can be part of a nam War soldiers were spent the last year working
Associated Press cure. understandably reluctant a film about a White House
“What if the film was just to share their stories, the in disarray obsessed with
an attempt at some sort co-directors said. But com- leaks, about a huge docu-
of vaccination, a little bit pared to his earlier series on ment drops into the public
more of the disease to get World War II and the Civil of classified information ...
you immune to the disunion War, Burns said there was about a deeply polarized
that it has sponsored?” one challenge he didn’t country, about a politi-
Burns said in a recent inter- face. cal campaign accused of
view. “It’s important for us “One of the great tasks for reaching out to a foreign
to begin to have creative us as filmmakers — amateur power during an election,
but courageous conver- historians if you will — was about mass demonstra-
sations about what took how to cut through all the tions across the country,’
place.” nostalgia and sentimental- you’d say, ‘Gee, Ken, you
Burns and co-director Lynn ity that had attached itself stopped doing history,
Novick had just finished to the Civil War and World you’re doing the present
work on their World War II War II,” he said. “There’s moment,’” he said.
documentary a decade no such problem with Viet- At Dartmouth, Novick and
ago when he turned to her nam.” Burns were joined by U.S.
and said, “We have to do After watching the hour- Army veteran Mike He-
Vietnam.” The result is their long preview, U.S. Army aney, of Hartland, Ver-
10-part, 18-hour series that veteran David Hagerman, mont, who is shown in the
will air beginning Sept. 17 of Lyme Center, said he film describing losing fellow
on PBS. can’t wait to watch the en- platoon members in a 1966
“For me, it was the sense tire series. ambush and spending the
that Vietnam was the most “It was powerful,” said night paranoid that a dead
important event for Ameri- Hagerman, who spent his Viet Cong soldier lying next
cans in the second half of nine months in Vietnam to him was just faking it and
the 20th century, yet we running a treatment cen- would rise up to kill him.
had done almost every- ter for soldiers addicted to After the screening, he told
thing we could in the inter- heroin. While strangers now the audience about re-
vening years to avoid un- approach him and thank turning to Vietnam in 2008,
derstanding it,” Burns said. him for his service, he said where he compared war
“As horrible as they are, coming home in 1972 was wounds with former ene-
wars are incredibly valu- traumatic. mies turned fellow “grand-
able moments to study, “I walked into the Seattle pas.”
and I thought what Viet- airport, and I was in my He said he’s been able to
nam lacked was a willing- Army outfit,” he said. “The cope thanks to the support
ness to engage in that.” reception I received was so of his family, as well as both
The film brings together the negative and so powerful Americans and the Viet-
latest scholarly research that I walked into the near- namese people.
on the war and features est men’s room, took my “I don’t expect to ever get
nearly 80 interviews, includ- uniform off, threw it in the closure on this kind of expe-
ing Americans who fought trash, and put on a T-shirt rience that I had,” he said.
in the war and those who and a pair of pants.” “And that’s OK.”q
opposed it, Vietnam-
ese civilians and soldiers
from both sides. Burns and
Novick have been show-
ing excerpts of the film
around the country in re-
cent months, most recently
at Dartmouth College on
Thursday night.
“I think this will be for a gen-
eral American audience a
kind of revelation, a cas-
cade of new facts and
new figures, and I don’t