In the Year of the Pig

original title:
In the Year of the Pig
country / year of production:
USA / 1968
original length:
103 min. , color
premiere:
25 October 1968, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
genre:
Documentary
based on:
director:
Emile de Antonio
film script:
producer:
Vincent Hanlon
cinematographer:
Jean-Jacques Rochut
editor:
Lynzee Klingman
composer:
cast (role):
more:
plot synopsis:
In drastic images director de Antonio portrays the history of Vietnam from its time as a French colony to the Tet-offensive. He uses pictures directy fro the battlefield, i.e. of severly wounded American soldiers who are carried away from the front line. While this is shown he plays "Old Glory", performed on timbas and other Indonesian instruments. Another scene shows how a buddhist monk set himself on fire to protest the war. De Antonio compiled interviews and material he gathered in North Vietnam, France, the former GDR, and the US as well as reports from politicians, Vietnam-experienced journalists, soldiers and other eye-witnesses.
keywords:
war:
Vietnam War (1946-1975)
literature:
Norbert Kraas. „The Arrogance of Power als zentrales Thema von Emile de Antonios `In the year of the Pig´. In: Mo Beyerle, Christine N. Brickmann (eds.). Der amerikanische Dokumentarfilm der 60er Jahre. Direct Cinema und Radical Cinema. Frankfurt a.M., New York, 1971, 354-373.
remarks:
Made in 1968, in the midst of the antiwar movement, this documentary presents an extremely radicalized view of the still-raging war in Vietnam.
Mrs. Orville Schell, a New York society matron, financed the film with her fund-raising dinners and is therefore credited as executive producer. The controversial film not only earned de Antonio a nomination for an Academy Award but also the tireless scrutiny of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover – which in turn inspired De Antonio to yet another production: `Mr. Hoover and I´ (1990).
The film's highlight is an interview with the late general George S. Patton, adroitly re-edited to make it seem as though Patton (who died in 1945) is characterizing the boys in Nam as "a bloody good bunch of killers".
There is no commentary which de Antonio generally objected as being merely a pretense of objectiviteness.
availability:
Video VHS NTSC