In the Year of the Pig (1968)

In the Year of the Pig
Directed by Emile de Antonio
1968/USA
Emile de Antonio Productions
#502 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
First viewing

Made while the war in Vietnam was still raging, The Year of the Pig ïs an “advocacy film” intended to raise opposition to the war by appealing to both the emotions and the intellect.  Although I generally hate to feel manipulated, I have to admit that the film is brilliantly effective in what it sets out to do.

The film traces the history of conflict in Vietnam through disturbing images, ironic use of music and sound effects, U.S. television news footage, sound bites from U.S. government and military officials, and interviews with scholars and war opponents. The basic message is that the U.S. cannot win the war because it is a liberation struggle supported by the majority of the Vietnamese people, North and South.

[box] “Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.” – General William C. Westmoreland[/box]

De Antonio was a committed Marxist and made no pretense of objectivity in this film. Since I agree with him about the folly of that war, the propaganda does not bother me as much as it otherwise would. And we certainly had a lot of propaganda on the other side for it to counter!

I had never heard of this film before.  Thanks to whomever nominated it for the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Blog Club.

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