Oscilloscope

Mile00100

Winter Soldier

Dir. Winterfilm Collective

On DVD 04/16/10

• Credits DVD features

SYNOPSIS

Winter Soldier is a documentary chronicle of the extraordinary Winter Soldier Investigation conducted by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Detroit during the winter of 1971. Veterans from all branches of the US military came from across the country to speak out about the atrocities they had committed and witnessed while stationed in Vietnam.

Recognizing the urgency and historical importance of the investigation, a remarkable group of independent filmmakers came together to document the veterans' testimonies. Calling themselves Winterfilm, their collective included Fred Aronow, Nancy Baker, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Barbara Jarvis, Barbara Kopple, Michael Lesser, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay Rubenstein and Michael Weil. (Members of this group of filmmakers have gone on individually to make some of the most important documentaries of our time, winning several Academy Awards in the process.)

Over the course of four days and nights, using donated equipment and film stock, the Winterfilm members shot footage of more than 125 veterans (including a very young John Kerry). These men, who represented every major combat unit that saw action in Vietnam, gave eyewitness testimony to war crimes and atrocities they either participated in or witnessed. Members of the collective next spent eight months editing the raw footage from the hearings together with film clips and snapshots from Vietnam into the 95-minute feature documentary Winter Soldier. Because the proceedings went virtually unreported by the media, Winter Soldier is the only audiovisual record of this historic turning point in American history.

Credits

DVD Features:

Conversation with Filmmakers (18 minutes).
Seasoned Veteran (40 minutes).
Short Film: Americal Division (24 minutes).
Short Film: First Marine Division (17 minutes).
Trailer (2 minutes).
The FBI Files on Winter Soldier (PDF File).
Milliarium's original press kit (PDF File).
WS Documents (PDF File).
Camil's military record (PDF File).
John Kerry's Testimony Congress (PDF File).
Complete WS Testimony (PDF File).
Stills Gallery-Approximately 600 stills.
Closed Captioning—TEXT. French & German Subtitles.