A video clip from the film, featuring Mr. Herr is available at: http://www.sidf.co.uk/programme/2002/films/clips/firstkill_hb.wvx
FIRST KILL Directed by Coco Schrijber
"If war was hell and only hell and there were no other colors in the palate, [if] that was the essence of the experience and all that there was to the experience, I don't think people would continue to make war," says celebrated author Michael Herr. With Herr as the protagonist, Coco Schrijber's controversial documentary interviews a number of Vietnam Veterans about their personal experiences, exploring the feelings of seduction, fascination and excitement which can be aroused through killing.
Schrijber intends to confuse her audience, provoking the question: Would we pull the trigger? It makes for disturbing viewing, with veterans candidly discussing the adrenaline and one-upmanship that would take place on the killing fields.
For some people war is just work, as appears from the story of war photographer Eddie Adams. Immediately after taking his well-known photograph of a Vietnamese general shooting a Vietcong soldier in the head, he went out to lunch. Other Vietnam veterans talk about similar numbing experiences. Yet many of them suffer nightmares and are still struggling with their traumas. On the other hand, former "tunnelrat" Billy Heflin openly admits that, despite his aversion to war, he has gotten addicted to killing. He even literally thinks back longingly to the war.
In a breathtaking collage of image and sound, Schrijber juxtaposes these confessional testimonies with images of young Vietnamese and foreigners who now visit the former killing fields as sites of tourism, conveying people's fascination with war and its memory. Tourists' camera snap shots replace the horrifying photographs that remain as a testimony to the war. Vietnamese artists reproduce in oil paintings the same images, turning them from a silent documentary testimony of the past into works of art.
** 2002 Sheffield International Documentary Festival <http://www.sidf.co.uk/programme/2002/films/first_kill.php> ** Joris Ivens Award, 2001 Amsterdam International Documentary Festival
As mentioned above, go to the following link to view a clip from the film: http://www.sidf.co.uk/programme/2002/films/clips/firstkill_hb.wvx
52 minutes / Color / 2001 / Order #V2K F19 Sale/video: $390 Rental/video: $75
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