This is one of the ten best documentaries of all time: 49 years after its release, this absolute masterpiece unfortunately remains unseen in France.

Although it is naturally different in form from works of fiction, the emotional field opened up by documentary film can be absolutely devastatingly powerful. Because it deals with things that are sometimes intimate, questions that deeply surprise and ask us, about our relationship with the world, others and living beings.

“Win men’s hearts and minds”

“We must be ready to fight in Vietnam. But the ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who live there.”. These are the words of the very famous speech of American President Lyndon B. Johnson on May 4, 1965. “Win men’s hearts and minds” The formula he used in his speeches no less than 28 times in 1964-1968.

It is also the name chosen by filmmaker Peter Davies for his extraordinary documentary, one of the most important and emotionally and politically influential ever made: Hearts and Minds.

Here’s the trailer…

The Vietnam War came at a time when Hollywood conventions were breaking down, and a government keen to keep it contained was careful not to mobilize filmmakers to glorify an increasingly unpopular conflict.

Hearts & Minds was one of the first films to publicly address US foreign policy actions – whether covert or not – and to show “in the flesh” the aftermath of the Vietnam War. That’s because at the time the documentary was made, the United States was still in the midst of secret negotiations with North Vietnam to try to end the conflict, negotiations that would lead to the 1973 Paris Accords.

A devastating X-ray of an America plagued by doubt

It was released at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974 and received very favorable reviews. But its distribution in the United States posed a problem. Faced with the film’s controversial subject matter, the film’s distributor threw in the towel, while the risks of litigation increased, further delaying the film’s US release. Peter Davis eventually managed to find a new distributor and the film was released in 1975, shortly before the Academy Awards, from which it walked away with the Oscar for Best Documentary.

Some people criticized the announcement of the award, calling the film anti-American, while others applauded it. Frank Sinatra, who hosted the Academy Awards in 1976, publicly denounced the documentary and the award it received.

Combining combat images, archival footage and testimonies from veterans and anti-war activists, political figures, but also leading actors such as General Westmoreland, commander of US military operations in the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1968, Hearts & Minds is a devastating and moving X-ray of the conflict’s tormented and A nation torn apart by this conflict, whose wounds have never healed.

Ability to launch a powerful appeal to the video editor; This masterpiece of a documentary has unfortunately never had the honor of being released on DVD, much less Blu-ray. In any case, there’s still a huge amount of work to be done around the film: it only has four unfortunate entries on file…