Bill Couturié's Academy Award-nominated "Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers" features readings of letters sent home by US troops from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. The letters get read by Val Kilmer, Blair Underwood, Tom Hulce, and others.
A particularly important line in one of the letters appears towards the end. It says something to the effect of "War has no winners, just survivors." Indeed, the Gulf War got seen as a resounding victory at the time but now looks more like it gave us a false sense of security. Some of the wars ended, but some merely evolved into other wars (the so-called War on Terrorism merely replaced the Cold War).
I guess that the documentary could've done a little better by going into what the wars were about, but I liked hearing the letters. Worth seeing.
A particularly important line in one of the letters appears towards the end. It says something to the effect of "War has no winners, just survivors." Indeed, the Gulf War got seen as a resounding victory at the time but now looks more like it gave us a false sense of security. Some of the wars ended, but some merely evolved into other wars (the so-called War on Terrorism merely replaced the Cold War).
I guess that the documentary could've done a little better by going into what the wars were about, but I liked hearing the letters. Worth seeing.
