In the Year of the Pig (1968)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Emile de Antonio

Release Date:

26 February 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot Keywords:

Military | Jungle Warfare | Jungle | Guerrilla Warfare | Vietnam War

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Harry S. Ashmore	...	Himself (chairman, Center for Democratic Institutions)
Daniel Berrigan	...	Himself
Joseph Buttinger	...	Himself (France)
William R. Corson	...	Himself (USMC, CIA)
Philippe Devillers	...	Himself (France)
David Halberstam	...	Himself (New York Times)
Roger Hillsman	...	Himself (Asst. Secretary of State)
Jean Lacouture	...	Himself (France)
Kenneth P. Landon	...	Himself (State Dept.)
Thruston B. Morton	...	Himself (US Senator)
Paul Mus	...	Himself (Yale University)
Charlton Osburn	...	Himself (State Dept., 1946)
Harrison Salisbury	...	Himself (New York Times)
Ilya Todd	...	Himself (reporter, Le nouvel observateur)
John Toller	...	Himself (Green Berets, deserter)
David K. Tuck	...	Himself (US serviceman, execution of prisoners)
David Werfel	...	Himself (University of Missouri)
John White	...	Himself (USN, Tonkin Gulf Incident)

Runtime:

Sweden:101 min | USA:103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Finland:K-12

Company:

Emile de Antonio Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Underground (1976)

a masterpiece

This is one of the finest documentaries ever made. It is essential for Americans and Europeans to view this work about our crimes and mentality upon and toward Indochina and its nations and peoples, the focus here being Viet Nam. The gathered archive footage is superb and this work in itself has languished unseen for decades now restored on DVD. Which comes with a very well written booklet essay by Douglas Kellner who illuminates the differences between how Emile de Antonio approached the subject versus the establishment media. The latter always presenting the world with that "voice of god" narrator that is entirely absent from IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG.

One word of caution, understand that the events were still going on during the making of these interviews and there was facts about goings-on inside the oval office under Eisenhower, JFK and LBJ (the film is pre NIXON admin ) that were not only not known to journalists but even Whitehouse or admin employees who were out of the particular loop. Facts that have since been revealed in declassified documents or candid confessions of top tier insiders.

This is particularly true about JFK and the blinding light of the post assassination mythology that made even down to earth journalists reluctant to attribute blame to Kennedy. So my tip is when you watch try and see through their reluctance to blame and willingness to imply and believe a wonderful world that would have been...if only on that day in Dallas...remember there was no Vietnamese conflict prior to Franco-American imperial interference in Viet Nam. It was not a Vietnamese made conflict it was an imperial one made by external hands.