Sir! No Sir! (2006)

 

            I lived in Japan for three years (1964-67) while my father flew an F-105 out of Thailand.  My Dad continued in the Air Force and then the Air National Guard.  He evidenced no PTSD and willingly talked about the war.  I graduated high school in 1974, so the war and the draft ended before I was of age.  Being a military brat, I assumed I would have enlisted rather than wait to be drafted.  I was even in ROTC for a while at LSU.  My dreams of becoming a pilot were dashed by poor eyesight and I moved on with my life.  I did not follow the war when it was ongoing.  The only thing I knew about the anti-war movement was that my father refused to watch any Jane Fonda movies.  I had no opinions on the war other than a vague feeling that I was a hawk.  Being a history buff, I eventually got around to reading books about the war and formed a more knowledgeable opinion on it.  When I became an American History teacher, I put a lot of effort into my Vietnam War unit.  I presented the facts and let my students decide whether America’s involvement was justified.  Over the years, I have seen many Vietnam War movies and read many books including memoirs.  I was not familiar with this movie until I started looking for more movies to review and share with the Vietnam War Book and Film Club. 

            “Sir!  No Sir!” is a documentary that was written, directed, and produced by David Zeiger.  (It is available on Netflix streaming.)  It was a labor of love for him.  He dropped out of high school to join the anti-war movement, ending up at Fort Hood.  There he helped organize soldiers who were against the war.  He was involved with the Oleo Strut GI Coffeehouse which became a hangout for like-minded soldiers.  He helped with the Fatigue Press which was an anti-war newspaper.  These experiences encouraged him to become a documentary maker.  “Sir! No Sir!” was not his first.  He had several under his belt, including an exploration of the graduating year for seniors at his high school which became a 13-part series on PBS entitled “Senior Year”.  He made “Sir!  No Sir!” when he realized that of all the documentaries on Vietnam, none focused on the GI Movement.  His movie is still the only movie on the subject of GI resistance.

            The movie opens with footage of napalm being dropped on a village (but mostly jungle).  The song “Soldier Boy” plays in the background. The format of the film is interviews with current veterans intermixed with archival footage.  The interviewees are a mixture of men (and a nurse) who refused to go, refused to train others, or refused to follow orders.  The movie leads with their reasons for joining the Army.  It then proceeds to cover the GI Movement in chronological order.  Here's a list of some of the topics: 

1.  Nine for Peace in San Francisco

2.  the Presidio Mutiny

3.  GI coffeehouses

4.  anti-war newspapers

5.  Fun, Travel, and Adventure becomes FTA (Fuck the Army)

6.  Jane Fonda’s role in the movement (she is interviewed)

7.  Howard Levy -  he refused to train Green Berets

8.  the Long Binh Rebellion

9.  black soldiers begin to question the war

10.  Vietnam Veterans Against the War

11.  Radio First Termer

12.  fragging

13.  WORMS -  We Openly Resist Military Stupidity

14.  FTA shows

            The movie shows its cards early when the narrator (Troy Garity -  the son of Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda) proclaims “the Tet Offensive revealed that the enemy had widespread support from the public.”  Sounds true to anti-war activists, but actually the offensive proved the opposite.  However, from this shaky start the movie settles into a fairly standard chronicle of the anti-war resistance among the troops.  Clearly, the movie is anti-war, but it lets the interviewees and footage do most of the convincing.  All of the veterans are articulate and they can be persuasive if you come in without a pre-formed opinion.  The narration is not over the top.  Obviously, the film is not balanced.  No hawks were interviewed.  And negative aspects of the movement are overlooked.  For instance, Jane Fonda’s visits to Hanoi are not mentioned.

            I have purposely avoided offering my opinion on the GI Movement.  Suffice to say, after my father’s experiences and all my reading and watching movies, I already had an opinion about the war.  I think that to the average viewer, with little knowledge about the war or the anti-war movement, it can be persuasive.  However, it should not be your only source for forming an opinion on the war.  Watch a good neutral documentary first.  I suggest the Ken Burns series or The Ten Thousand Day War.  Or read Stanley Karnow’s or Max Hastings’ histories. 

*** By the way, for you war movie buffs, there are two clips.  One is from “Hamburger Hill” where Sgt. Worcester carps about how the public hates GI’s and Rambo claiming he was spit on and called a baby killer when he came home.  (A “myth” the movie refutes.)            

GRADE  =  B-