Those who read my blog know that I have my own category dedicated to documentaries, so picking one out of everything I’ve seen was difficult. My first thought was something from Michael Moore, either Fahrenheit 9/11 or Bowling For Columbine as they are up there on my list of favourite docs. But I had to go with the truly affecting Hearts and Minds.
I think part of the reason Hearts and Minds was more affecting for me was because I was learning about the Vietnam War in my History class so I was better able to grasp everyone involved and the background of how it all developed. There’s a scene in the film that really disturbs me: a solider is in the street in Vietnam and he shoots a man in the head. As the man collapses on the ground, blood releases from his head like a fountain, and at the time, I was in so much shock because I had seen this happen in Hollywood movies before but this was real — a man just got shot in the head. There was no special effects, no pouch of blood exploding. It was all real. This was reality.
It still haunts me today. Reality is horrific. Take a lesson from that, modern horror movie makers.
aaron's random musings 