The Hanoi Hilton
The Hanoi Hilton is a belated
valentine to the POWs of Vietnam. A
valentine still largely undelivered. The
American Legion, along with some
other Vets groups, maintains that this
Cannon production has been backdoored
out of national distribution because of
pressure from the Hollywood establish
ment. These groups allege that it is only
because of "incorrect politics" that this
film has not been made available to a
wider viewing audience. I'm going to tell
you up front--I think they may be
correct.
THE JADED EYE: MOVIE ANI,
TELEVISION REVIEWS By C. W. Heiser
Because this film is so bound
up in politics, and in the politics of the
Vietnam war, which for us here and now
is still politics in the true emotional
sense, I will go straight to the source
and review The Hanoi Hilton using
Matthew Arnold's three criteria for
criticism. That is, and I paraphrase: 1.
What is the artist trying to do? 2. How
well does the artist succeed in doing it?
3. Does the work exhibit "high
seriousness"? (Does it touch the human
condition?) Embracing the politics, does
the movie still work?
The Ilanoi Hilton was pro
duced, written and directed by Lionel
Chetwynd. In this film, Chetwynd's
obvious purpose is to show us the
horror and degradation of American
prisoners of war of the North Viet
namese. In Chetwynd's presentation, a
major component of that degradation is
the betrayal of the POWs by fellow
countrymen.
One of the ways Chetwynd
succeeds in showing us the horror of the
POW experience is through the use of
what I would call open-ended cinema
tography and editing. As we follow
Michael Moriarty as a downed Navy
pilot through years of imprisonment, we
are never manipulated by an expected
sense of ugliness. There are no dank
corners--clean light exposes dirt. In the
set-piece torture scene, the camera stays
in one place, at mid-range, building up
detail on horrible detail. There are no
tricks to distract us from the pain we
see. By using this clean middle distance
throughout the film, Chetwynd gives us
the intellectual latitude to put ourselves
in the picture, while still feeling the
pain. (This smooth editing technique
breaks down in the last portion of the
film. As the war winds down, and the
This review of the Hanoi Hilton by Charlie Heiser won
second place in the Fall 1987 Capital Times Excellence in
Student Journalism Awards.
His column will continue through this semester.
Vietnamese captors ease off on the
prisoners, the scenes degenerate into a
series of vignettes reminiscent of Stalag
17.)
The most powerful scenes in
the film are not those of physical torture
by the Vietnamese though, but those
relatively quiet scenes turning on the
idea of betrayal. When the first American
who is tortured breaks, he is devastated,
not by the torture, but in finding out
that he is the first to break. When the
weak character portrayed by Paul La Mat
gives the Vietnamese information, we
are aware that what he tells them is
useless from a military standpoint. What
is damning is that he gave the infor
mation of his own, relative, free will,
without physical torture.
Unlike Apocalypse Now,
Platoon, or any number of Vietnam era
movies, in The Hanoi Hilton the war is
not used as a vehicle to argue larger,
symbolic questions of good and evil. In
The Hanoi Hilton evil is particularized.
This is especially clear in the scenes
based, not very loosely, on Jane Fonda's
visit to the POWs in North Vietnam.
These scenes, like most in the film, are
underplayed, and thus gain power. (And
this not pretty portrayal of Hank's
daughter may be what it is that's keeping
this movie out of distribution. This is
my opinion. Rambo is a heck of a lot
more jingoistic than this flick, by a long
shot, and Sly, the draft-dodging hunk,
hero to millions, has blank check in
Hollywood.) This major Hollywood
actress touring Vietnam is shown as a
dupe, while the POWs are more
interested in the fresh fruit placed by the
North Vietnamese to indicate better
conditions than there were.
Does the film work? Yes,
although it does betray itself in the end.
The final scene shows us the prisoners
cheering and crying at the arrival of a
U.S. military plane to transport them
home. A more honest ending would have
alluded to the neglect these prisoners
received at their return.
In the next few months, The
Hanoi Hilton will be available on home
video. While not a great film, I do
recommend it as decent adult enter
tainment. Because of the volatile nature
of the theme, I urge you to see The
Hanoi Hilton and form your own
opinion.
Would I Be Tolerant
of Another with AIDS?
By Michele Hart
A few weeks ago I was watching NBC Nightly News when a story came
on about three boys from Arcadia, Florida who had been infected with the AIDS
virus. I couldn't believe my eyes as the pictures rolled showing the burnt-out
home the boys had lived in with their mother and father; a home that had been
destroyed by arsonists. It was inconceivable to me that people could be
intolerant and ignorant enough to destroy a family's home and all of their
belongings because of AIDS.
As the piece continued I was encouraged by the fact that another
community had allowed the boys to enroll in school and try to gain some
semblance of order and security to their lives. But, once again I was upset
because of the comments of a young mother whose son was going to be a
classmate of one of the three boys. She said she'd keep her boy at home and teach
him herself if she had to because she didn't want her son exposed to the virus.
The reporter asked her what kind of risk she thought was involved if she let her
son stay in school. She replied that one of the infected boys could bite her son
or vomit on him, thereby exposing him to the deadly virus.
From what I understand, and I'm not claiming to know more than the
average person, the only way you can get AIDS is from sexual contact with a
carrier, or sharing a needle with a carrier. The virus can be in saliva, but not
enough to infect another person through casual contact, and it cannot be
transmitted from person to person by touch, like the common cold. Now unless
this lady's son is a drug user who shoots up at the age of seven or eight, or is
sexually active already, I couldn't see any reason for her to pull him out of
school. At least that was my first reaction.
That story struck me strongly enough to make me sit down and think
about it. What if it were my child that was going to be in the same class as an
AIDS carrier? Could I be tolerant, or would I react as that woman had? Just how
would I react to AIDS on a personal level? How does anyone react for that
matter?
AIDS is not something we can ignore or assume that it will never affect
us. Doctors are saying that in the near future it could affect most of us in some
way or another. That's a scary proposition, and I don't think society is ready to
handle it; not when houses in Florida are being torched and politicians, clergy,
and lay people are calling for massive roundups and isolation of those infected
with the AIDS virus.
When society stops passing judgments on those who have the virus,
calling it a punishment from God or the devil's disease, and gets off of its
morality soap box, only then can we begin to think in terms of dealing with the
disease. Too many people think that those "horrible queers and faggots" (as
someone said to me the other morning), are the only ones who have to deal with
AIDS. Surprise, they're not the only ones who should be concerned. But, the
word is concerned, not paranoid, not abu
sive, not judgmental, not violent, not
intolerant, concerned, The same people
who claim to be open minded and accept-
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ing of anyone no matter what their race,
color, or creed, are sometimes the first
ones brandishing the verbal and moral
judgments.
If this problem is ever going to be
solved society has to stop pointing fingers
and start holding hands. We cannot allow
a few scared people dictate the way an
entire population is going to react to the
biggest health problem since the Black
Death. The only cure for AIDS right now
is education and prevention. We should be
worried, not about how we're going to
keep AIDS away from our own families,
but how we can keep it from all families.
By learning as much as possible about the
disease and its transmission we may be
able to slow its progression. We cannot,
however, stop the disease with violence
and name calling, or by judging and dictat
ing the lifestyles of others.
Michele Hart's commentary on a very
controversial subject was given first
place honors in the Fall 1987 Capital
Times Excellence in Student Journalism
competition. She is now the Editor-in-
Chie o the Ca.