The Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn For Peace co-host a five-part film series about the Vietnam War in conjunction with BHS's exhibition In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans. Each showing will be followed by a discussion led by an expert on the Vietnam War, a politician active at the time, or a participant in the events described.
Admission is free. The Brooklyn Historical Society is located at 128 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights.
 Tuesday, 9/9, 6:30 pm
Green Berets
(1968)
Commentator: Marilyn Young
The series will open with Green Berets, John Wayne's classic Hollywood feature film about the U.S. special forces in Vietnam.
 Thursday, 9/25, 6:30 pm
Sir, No Sir
(2006) Commentator: Howard Levy
Next comes Sir! No Sir! a new documentary about the G.I. resistance to the war.
 Tuesday, 10/7, 6:30 pm
Cambodia, Year Zero
(1979)
Commentator: Elizabeth Holzman
The third film, John Pilger's disturbing and seldom seen Cambodia Year Zero, chronicles devastating consequences the U.S. expansion of the war to Cambodia.
 Tuesday, 10/21, 6:30 pm
Thanh's War
(1991)
Commentator: Moss Roberts
The consequences for both Vietnamese and Americans is movingly narrataed in Thanh's War. This documentary recounts the experiences of a 12 year old boy wounded by a grenade, rescued by U.S. doctors, and adopted by an American family, who returns to Vietnam to marry. His talks with an ex-Marine suggest the very different ways in which Vietnamese and Americans remember the war and live with those memories.
 Friday, 11/7, 6:30 pm
The Fog Of War
(2004)
Commentator: Carolyn Eisenberg
The final film is Errol Morris's The Fog of War, which intersperses spellbinding interviews with Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations with extensive archival footage. It explores both why McNamara and others waged the war and whether they now regret their policies.
About the series, and the films:
The Vietnam War is remembered in images. Iconic photos, nightly new broadcasts, and films. At the time and subsequently, the war has been debated in Hollywood feature films and documentaries. The Brooklyn Historical Society in conjunction with Brooklyn for Peace is sponsoring a five part film series to accompany its current exhibition In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans.
About the speakers:
Marilyn Young, commentator for Green Berets
Professor of History, New York University. She is the author of several books on Vietnam, including, The Vietnam Wars, 1945-90; Iraq and Vietnam:Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam: Or, How Not to Learn from the Past with Lloyd Gardner and Making Sense of the Vietnam Wars: Local, National, and Transnational Perspectives with Mark Philip Bradley.
Dr. Howard Levy, commentator for Sir! No Sir!
Brooklyn Veteran, who refused to train soldiers for Vietnam and was courtmarshalled and sentenced to three years in prision. He is featured in the film.
Elizabeth Holtzman, commentator for Cambodia Year Zero
Former Congresswoman from Brooklyn who while serving on the Judiciary Committeee introduced an article of impeachment against richard Nixon for his bombing of Cambodia and was lead plaintiff in Holtzman v. Schlesinger which sought to have American courts stop the U.S. bombing of Cambodia.
Moss Roberts, commentator for Thanh's War
Professor of East Asian Studies and Chinese language and literature at New York University.
Carolyn Eisenberg, commentator for The Fog of War
Professor of History at Hofstra University and expert on U.S. foreign policy. She is currently writing a book on Kissinger, Nixon, and the Vietnam War.
About the exhibit:
In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans
With the use of oral histories, portraits, and personal artifacts this audio installation explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of Brooklyn's diverse residents, from the first person perspective. "Meeting" eight people who were touched by the Vietnam War, visitors are prompted to consider the on-going impact of the Vietnam War in the lives of Brooklynites, from their memories of the war to how it affects them today.
From portrait to portrait, from person to person, from personal narrative to personal narrative, a meta-narrative slowly emerges in which we empathize with the stories of the men and women who confront the chaos of an historical period, and share their, memories, and understanding of the history through which they lived.
Exhibit will be open until March 8, 2009
Sample audio clips can be heard on the BHS Oral History page.
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