Sir! No, Sir! - a film review

Sir! No, Sir! is a film by David Zeiger, telling the government-suppressed story of the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam. The film is a collection of memories and commentary by Vietnam Veterans, many of whom were on a career path in the military.

After the 1968 Tet Offensive which the US Military was unprepared for, morale among troops was at an all-time low. The war was considered unwinable, and a protest movement grew amoung active duty troops, including underground GI newspapers and coffee houses that sprung up around military bases. These coffee houses were places for GIs to “rap” (in the vernacular of the day) about what was really  happening - returning soldiers telling soldiers about to be shipped out what they could really expect. Eventually, the coffee houses were declared off-limits. There was also a modern equivalent to the Civil War’s Underground Railway, helping soldiers to desert and get to Canada. The Pentagon documents 1,500,000 instances of AWOL and desertion during the war. Official estimates of the actual number of service members who went AWOL or deserted run between 500,000 (Pentagon) and 550,000 (officials in the Ford Administration).

The film is narrated by Troy Garity, son of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden. His spoken word is quiet, almost like a subconscious thought telling us about a period that has been essentially wiped from our collective memories. The GI anti-war movement has been erased from common knowledge, replaced with myths of hippies spitting on returning Vets - a myth made popular by Rambo: First Blood Part 2, which is also 1985’s Golden Razzie Award Winner as worst picture. In his book, The Spitting Image, sociologist Jerry Lembcke argues that the image of anti-war protesters spitting on returning Nam vets is an urban legend designed to discredit the anti-war movement. He also suggests that George H. W. Bush used this image to help sell the first Gulf War to the American people.

Interspersed with the commentary of the Vietnam Veterans, there is commentary from Jane Fonda. Now, who was in the audience for their “FTA Concert?” No, it was not anti-war hippies, commies, and draft-dodgers. The majority were active-duty military, in uniform.

The film does not mention John Kerry, nor does it draw comparisons to Iraq, although such comparisons are inevitable. Instead, it asks us to scour our memories, and to dig deep. It tells of soldiers who were forced to ask themselves the difference between right and wrong; to examine what we were actually doing in Vietnam - a military campaign with no clear objective, nothing other than hubris driving us forward.

There is a new film being developed about the immoral and illegal nature of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, as told by eyewitness accounts of active duty soldiers and veterans who were there. That is the film that will address the issues of today. First, see Sir! No, Sir!