10 Classic Films Whose Themes Still Ring True Today

4. Hearts and Minds (1974)

Hearts And Minds First off, this film is not easy to watch. It's verité cinema at its apex an shows the unadulterated ugliness humankind is capable of. It's a documentary about the Vietnam War and it is not sparse on the graphic imagery. The thing is, take Hearts and Minds, make it 35 years later and it fits so perfectly with the Iraq War: we entered both wars under false pretenses, grievous crimes were committed "in the name of freedom" and when it was all said and done we managed to accomplish nothing. Director Peter Davis crafted such a scathing film with Hearts and Minds that any and all who saw couldn't help but be convinced (and rightly so) that there was no honor in going to Vietnam. Even the hardcore backers of the war were made sick by seeing what actually had been done. There's a sequence in the film that shows some sort of banquet dinner in Vietnam where the guests poke fun at America and engaged in other forms of gaiety. These shots are intercut with a jungle village that had recently been laid to and destroyed by American forces. Watching the lost and wandering souls shamble about in confusion and fright makes the juxtaposition that much more horrific.
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Kevin Terpstra hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.