Sir! No Sir!

Sir! No Sir! is a sometimes fascinating but ultimately troubling documentary. It focuses on soldiers during the Vietnam War who found themselves horrified by what they were witnessing, and who made the decision to resist military duty. Many veterans sit down for candid, startling interviews, revealing their motivation to resist. The problem is, the film is extremely one-sided; it doesn’t offer the opinions of soldiers who resented those who protested. It also makes an attempt to debunk, as a myth, “baby killer” spitting incidents where vets were supposedly attacked by protesters upon their return home. The movie seems to state that there is no documented proof American soldiers were ever spat at—but there are some vets who would tell you otherwise. I found the almost total absence of dissenting views pretty odd for a film that is about dissent and protest. A movie that digs into both sides of these issues still needs to be made.