HEARTS AND MINDS screening at Castro

FRIDAY–THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 24–30
HEARTS AND MINDS
Daily: 7:00, 9:30 / Sat & Wed: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30
Sunday: 4:15, 7:00, 9:30
Director Peter Davis will appear in person to introduce the film on Friday and Saturday evening and a Q&A will follow the 7:00 screening.
“If the first casualty of war is truth, the last is memory.” —Peter Davis
"It is not only the best documentary I have ever seen, it may be the best movie ever. If I were to pick the one film that inspired me to pick up a camera, it is 'Hearts and Minds,' a film that remains every bit as relevant today. Required viewing for anyone who says, 'I am an American.'" —Michael Moore
With John Kerry’s combat record and Bush’s lack of one an increasing part of the current presidential campaign, and the poorly-planned occupation of Iraq heading into quagmire territory, this landmark 1974 documentary acquires a newfound immediacy. Acclaimed filmmaker and journalist Peter Davis’s Hearts and Minds illustrates in human and at times graphic terms the horrors and lessons of the Vietnam conflict. Edited from over 200 hours of footage–incorporating newsreels, telecasts, even scenes from Hollywood war movies–the film captures the experience of war through multiple perspectives, depicting its effects on the diverse range of actors and participants (from “doves” to “hawks,” military advisors to bombing victims, GIs to bargirls) that make up the societies of Vietnam and America. Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974, Davis’s film—highly anticipated at the time given his reputation for provocative telejournalism on politically sensitive subjects—quickly drew media attention for its unflinching examination of the then-recent conflict and its implications for America’s role in the world. The resulting public interest led to the film’s review being read aloud to both houses of the U.S. Congress, the only movie thus discussed as part of the Congressional Record. The film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In light of current international events, Hearts and Minds once again prompts us to examine the underlying assumptions of our culture and its far-reaching political effects. The film will be presented in a newly struck 35mm print from a recent restoration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 112m.