The Whistleblower of My Lai
The massacre of over 500 innocent civilians by American soldiers in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War. The events of that day may well have gone…
The Whistleblower of My Lai
The massacre of over 500 innocent civilians by American soldiers in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War. The events of that day may well have gone unnoticed save for the actions of a young army helicopter pilot who, by happenstance, witnessed the killing in the course of a routine reconnaissance flight. Appalled by what he saw, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson attempted to intercede. Aghast at his inability to stop the slaughter he reported the massacre to military high command thus putting the incident firmly in army records. In November 1969 Seymour Hersh broke the story in his Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé, which shook the national conscience. Thompson's refusal to remain silent about the massacre forced the military to conduct an inquiry and trial. Among the generation that came of age during the 1960's were four artists-David Harrington of the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet, composer Jonathan Berger, novelist Harriet Scott Chessman, and singer Rinde Eckert-on whose lives the Vietnam War and its controversy left an indelible mark. Out of this concern they created a new music opera, with musician Vân-Ãnh Võ, that explores the tragedy of My Lai through the perspective of Thompson's naïve, heroically idealistic, ethical decision to act, and its consequences. The creativity of this artistic collaboration brings a whole new dimension of understanding of the Vietnam War and of Hugh Thompson that one cannot get from a traditional historical documentary. The intensity of the libretto, the power of the unique music, the focus of a haiku encapsulation of a specific story captures the essence of the tragedy of that war.
The Whistleblower of My Lai
Documentary
Film Details
The massacre of over 500 innocent civilians by American soldiers in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War. The events of that day may well have gone unnoticed save for the actions of a young army helicopter pilot who, by happenstance, witnessed the killing in the course of a routine reconnaissance flight. Appalled by what he saw, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson attempted to intercede.
Aghast at his inability to stop the slaughter he reported the massacre to military high command thus putting the incident firmly in army records. In November 1969 Seymour Hersh broke the story in his Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé, which shook the national conscience. Thompson's refusal to remain silent about the massacre forced the military to conduct an inquiry and trial.
Among the generation that came of age during the 1960's were four artists-David Harrington of the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet, composer Jonathan Berger, novelist Harriet Scott Chessman, and singer Rinde Eckert-on whose lives the Vietnam War and its controversy left an indelible mark. Out of this concern they created a new music opera, with musician Vân-Ãnh Võ, that explores the tragedy of My Lai through the perspective of Thompson's naïve, heroically idealistic, ethical decision to act, and its consequences. The creativity of this artistic collaboration brings a whole new dimension of understanding of the Vietnam War and of Hugh Thompson that one cannot get from a traditional historical documentary.
The intensity of the libretto, the power of the unique music, the focus of a haiku encapsulation of a specific story captures the essence of the tragedy of that war..