Medp160 Extra Credit

When we reflect on Veteran’s day, it is a holiday to remind ourselves and be proud of the fellow citizens who took charge and represented The United States. On the surface, Americans see no need to look at this national holiday as a day of regret or remorse. Once exposed into the real world, however, people’s eyes are opened to the fact that there are veterans who either did not choose to fight in the war, or experienced hands on tragedies that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
These two documentaries, Another Brother and Three Tours were both designed to incorporate the fallouts that soldiers have experienced during their time at war. In the first film, Another Brother, The story encompasses the struggle that Clarence Fitch, a Black Vietnam veteran and the impact that the war had on him. Clarence had struggled with a drug problem that followed him all throughout and post-Vietnam. He began to serve as an anti-war activist, which, prior to me viewing this film, never experienced before. I had always witnessed anti-war activism and have learned about it through the hippie movement or anti-war activists on college campuses during the Vietnam war. However, viewing veterans against the cause was a very different approach. It changes a viewer’s understanding of why people fight to stop wars. It’s not only for political purposes, but for the unfairness and catastrophe that the opposing countries have to experience. The second film, Three Tours, focuses on three soldiers in Iraq and how they were affected not only physically, but mentally. People seem to disregard the mental toll that comes along with being a veteran. It seems to be all exciting until the soldier is actually placed on their first tour.

In regards to how the films were styled, they both seemed to draw any viewer’s attention despite them both having differences. The first film, being a few decades older, still had a modern approach and emotional impact. It was a very personalized documentary that honored a veteran and activist who had passed, however the creator had used old interviews from Clarence in order for it to be a personal, more intimate story. Both films allowed for the veterans to speak first hand on their approach to the war and the struggles that had latched on with them during and after wartime. It also opened the viewer’s eyes to how veterans still do not receive the proper rights and treatments once they return home from war. For instance, drug abuse, child custody, or financial downfalls were just some of the issues that these veterans, and many more face every day after returning from representing the United States. The purpose of a good documentary is to educate and compel the viewer and challenge their personal ideas, which both of these films have successfully done.

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