THE WHISTLEBLOWER OF MY LAI
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The Whistleblower of My Lai tackles the concept of heroism, the definition of morality in wartime, and guilt both personal and national. The film follows the Kronos Quartet’s production of Jonathan Berger and Harriet Chessman’s opera My Lai, which takes at its heart the actions and life of the whistleblower who revealed the 1968 massacre by U.S. troops in Vietnam.
The massacre of over 500 innocent civilians by American soldiers in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War. The events of that day may well have gone unnoticed save for the actions of a young army helicopter pilot who, by happenstance, witnessed the killing in the course of a routine reconnaissance flight. Appalled by what he saw, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson attempted to intercede. Aghast at his inability to stop the slaughter he reported the massacre to military high command thus putting the incident firmly in army records. In November 1969 Seymour Hersh broke the story in his Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé, which shook the national conscience. Thompson’s refusal to remain silent about the massacre forced the military to conduct an inquiry and trial. Among the generation that came of age during the 1960’s were four artists—David Harrington of the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet, composer Jonathan Berger, novelist Harriet Scott Chessman, and singer Rinde Eckert—on whose lives the Vietnam War and its controversy left an indelible mark. Out of this concern they created a new music opera, with musician Vân-Ánh Võ, that explores the tragedy of My Lai through the perspective of Thompson’s naïve, heroically idealistic, ethical decision to act, and its consequences. The creativity of this artistic collaboration brings a whole new dimension of understanding of the Vietnam War and of Hugh Thompson that one cannot get from a traditional historical documentary. The intensity of the libretto, the power of the unique music, the focus of a haiku encapsulation of a specific story captures the essence of the tragedy of that war. |
Disc Info: DVD. NTSC Region 0. Stereo Audio. Made to order.
Length: 64 minutes Subject Areas: Vietnam War, Ethics, Human Rights, Peace & Conflict Studies, Performing Arts & Theatre, Social Justice Are you a college or university who already owns the DVD and wants to add Digital Streaming Rights? Email us at info@clarityfilms.org Want to know more about usage rights? Read our policies here. "For the first time I was exposed to a documentary combined with the power of opera, of music, to express the inner emotions and thoughts of Thompson, which traditional historical documentaries cannot do. This is a very daring and innovative film." "Ideal for classroom use in social sciences, humanities and the arts, Field's masterpiece beautifully weaves the story of an unknown hero of war, creatively combining cinema and opera to tell the tale of unspeakable horror and the one who tried to stop it." |