In 1971, with the My Lai massacre still vivid in the public consciousness, 109 Vietnam War veterans gathered in a hotel in Detroit and, in front of news journalists and a collective of young filmmakers, spoke frankly about their experiences in Vietnam. They called themselves the Winter Soldiers and their testimonials are devastating: women raped and disemboweled, children murdered, prisoners thrown from helicopters, ears severed, villages burned, and families slaughtered. Almost instantaneously, a pro-war backlash set out to discredit the veterans and their stories, and though their brave confessions were hailed by many senators and congressman, the news media never aired any of the footage.

The filmmakers who were present, including Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.), masterfully edited the three days of interviews into a single 96-minute presentation. Almost as harrowing as the accounts themselves are the haunted looks and the trembling voices of the young men as they speak openly of becoming debased monsters who were willing to commit atrocities. Though the film seemed to be inexorable evidence that Vietnam war crimes were commonplace rather than anomalous, the film received scant screenings, and the stories never reached the majority of the American public.

During the 2004 presidential election, the Winter Soldier Investigation resurfaced in regards to John Kerry's involvement with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and his role as a pivotal organizer of the event. A group of veterans, indignant over any supposed defamation of soldiers and their actions, set out to attack Kerry's wartime credentials, and to paint the Winter Soldier stories as spurious and fabricated.

In 2005, more than 30 years after it was made, WINTER SOLDIER received general distribution, and the film remained as unsettling and pertinent than ever. The charges that the men were imposters seem ludicrous in the face of these blistering and self-crucifying descriptions of human behavior in wartime. The film still evokes a visceral response and raises questions of what, eventually, may be revealed about military abuses and crimes in Iraq.

"Something very important is missing from the movie and, by extension it seems, from what might be called the American character."
-- New York Times

"A powerful document from a painful chapter in history."
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Very much a product of its time: It's not an investigative piece; it's a combination of documentary footage, protest, despair and anger."
-- Denver Rocky Mountain News

"The film is an important historical document, an eerily prescient antiwar plea and a dazzling example of moviemaking at its most iconographically potent. But at its best, it is the eloquent, unforgettable tale of profound moral reckoning."
-- Washington Post

"Rich with moments of excruciating eloquence."
-- Denver Post

"The most chilling aspect of "Winter Soldier" is that, 34 years down the road, it feels fresh."
-- Film.com

"I couldn't call this film a masterpiece, only indispensable."
-- Chicago Reader

"An unprettied, unfiltered, un–Michael Moored yowl of pain and warning from ex-GIs that sears in an entirely new way when watched now, during an entirely new war that results in the same old death."
-- Entertainment Weekly

Actors: Joe Bangert, Scott Camil, Evan Haney, John Kerry, Michael Oliver, and more
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Rating NR
Studio: New Yorker Video
DVD Release Date: May 30, 2006
Run Time: 95 minutes
ASIN: B000F3AILI
DVD Features:
* Available Subtitles: German, French
* A Conversation with the Filmmakers
* Seasoned Veteran: The Journey of a Winter Soldier (documentary about Scott Camil)
* Americal Division (1971 short)
* First Marine Division (1971 short)
* Song: "Oh! Camil" by Graham Nash
* Theatrical Trailer
* "The Winter Soldier Files" downloadable on DVD-Rom (Adobe Acrobat Reader® required)
* Stills Gallery from the original negatives of VVAW photographer Sheldon Ramsdell

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