Search - Country Joe Mcdonald :: Vietnam Experience

The sights and sounds of the 60's

Bernie Weisz | Pembroke Pines,Florida | 09/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I as reading the last review and I found it odd that someone would view a video to hear the backround music. In this case, it was "Country Joe" McDonald". I'm not sure why the previous reviewer thought "Country Joe" made country music. I liken Joe McDonald to events like "Woodstock", "Haight-Ashbury", the "Fillmore West" and the whole "Acid Scene" that writers like Ken Keasy wrote about. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test McDonald played no country music. Hs contempories were bands like "The Doors" who did a song called "The Unknown Soldier" and "The End" (both anti-Vietnam) and Jimi Hendrix who wrote "Isabella" and "Machine Gun" (also anti-Vietnam) Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix Regardless, Country Joe McDonald got together with a company called "MPI" and produced this amazing video that truly juxtaposed the horrors of Vietnam with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War marching on Washington Nam Vet : Making Peace with Your Past It also showed the "Days of Rage" where Mayor Richard Daly in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention unleased his police "goons" against protesters against the war outside the convention Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention juxtaposed with planes crisscrossing the rice paddies of South Vietnam giving the terrain a good dose of Dioxin. Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam For good measure, McDonald threw in the classic Bhuddist immolating himself in Vietnam protesting Catholic prejudice along with a young girl running naked after being burnt by napalm Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation The film concludes with a teary scene of all the dead's names at the Wall in Washington.Letters on the Wall: Offerings and Remembrances from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial This is a sensationl film that will keep you thinking for hours about the turbulent times of the 60's. The question is:will these scenes reoccur with our never-ending, ongoing commitment in Iraq? Let's hope not!"