| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3

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| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3 | The History Cooperative

Movie Reviews

Two Days in October. Dir. and prod. by Robert Kenner. Robert Kenner Films, 2005. 90 mins. (pbs Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314; 800-531-4727; http://www.shoppbs.org/)

The best documentaries on the 1960s remind us of the fluidity of thought and the power of experience during that tumultuous period. Two Days in October is a masterly contribution to this genre. Based on David Maraniss compelling book, They Marched into Sunlight (2003), the film follows two groups of Americans experiencing this era on different sides of the globe.

South Vietnam is the first image, where a battalion of young, well-trained soldiers (the "Black Lions") confront a war they did not expect. Their adversary, the National Liberation Front for Vietnam (Vietcong), is frustratingly elusive. When they finally make contact with the enemy, on October 17, 1967, they are nearly destroyed due to the Vietcong's larger numbers, its more effective use of terrain, and the poor leadership in the upper echelons of the U.S. military. The bloody battle convinces the survivors, even the firmest believers in America's mission, that the war does not match the standard assumptions of U.S. righteousness and invincibility. At the same time, the soldiers are uncomfortable with the categorical positions of the antiwar movement. They are, like so many other Vietnam veterans, alienated from the politics around them.

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