Four hour in my lai - Movie Review Example

Movie Review: Four hours in My Lai This movie presents a deep insight into what actually transpired during the My Lai Massacre initiated by the Charlie Co., the 20th American Infantry battalion during the Vietnam War. The movie includes personal interviews of both - the war veterans who were directly involved in the brutal killing of thousands of innocent and defenseless civilians as well as those who managed to survive despite it all and lived to tell the tale. The documentary includes graphic pictorial evidence of the killings and the mindless mass murders and the destruction that was caused by an army trained to execute this brutality. The U.S.

servicemen expressed their experiences and their remorse in participating in one of the tragic events in the U.S. history which included murdering of old men, women and even children and rape and torture of young women and girls at the hands of the trained military personnel.The Pinkville massacre as it was popularly referred to, occurred in an quiet little village in Central Vietnam, which suddenly found itself caught in the center of a bitter war between the Americans and the Vietcong – a pro-communist guerilla army that was resisting the American advancement in their country.

The Charlie Co., was hence given an order to kill everyone in the village including old men, women and children as they were perceived to be sympathetic to the Vietcong and weren’t helping or assisting the Americans in the war. The prevalent sentiment within the warring camps was that anyone who wasn’t supporting the Americans was automatically perceived as an enemy and a threat to the national security. The uncovering of the actual brutalities during the war by a former American GI Ron Ridenhour spurred the investigation of the massacre culminating into a huge public outcry and national anguish.

Disturbing comparisons were made between the Nazis and the brutalities caused by the Charlie Co., in Vietnam. The movie highlights the pervasive fear of the Americans of the communists and their need to control as the only defense against them.