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This documentary, famous among dissenters of the Vietnam War, was long out of circulation. It is being made available again to the American public for the first time in nearly 25 years through release in DVD format, with many additional features.

This is a powerful, necessary and often painful film to watch. It will confirm that the Vietnam War was a failed atrocity, fought by soldiers who daily were involved with the most gruesome of actions against the Vietnamese. It will leave you feeling strongly that the soldiers were as much victims as perpetrators of heinous and unspeakable acts.

But speak about them, they do, in a "hearing" on the war in a Detroit Howard Johnson's hotel in 1971. It is an act of contrition and courage by these Vietnam War veterans.

Filmed by a collective of filmmakers (who reconvened last year to recall the making of the historic documentary), it is unsparing as 125 veterans assemble to tell their stories. After seeing "Winter Soldier," you know what you have heard about civilian deaths, torture and abuses in Iraq are just the tip of the iceberg, just as My Lai was only a single incident among many. It just happened to become the scapegoat for all the other Vietnam atrocities.

It is hard to think that people like us can so quickly become barbaric. Like a varnish remover, "Winter Soldier" strips any nobility that the "Masters of War" like McNamara, Johnson, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted and want to apply to the Vietnam and Iraq wars.

The "Winter Soldier" film website notes: "In February 1971, one month after the revelations of the My Lai massacre, an astonishing public inquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam was held at a Howard Johnson motel in Detroit. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this event called the Winter Soldier Investigation. More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed.

"Though the event was attended by press and television news crews, almost nothing was reported to the American public. Yet, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement. It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated, including the young John Kerry [although his appearance is just a brief visual image]. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed him and his comrades forever. Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes seeing Winter Soldier an unforgettable experience."

This is a raw, searing film that rubs salt on an open wound. It is profoundly moving, sad and a powerful indictment of those who lead us into conflicts that are cul-de-sacs of horror.

One reviewer described "Winter Soldier" as a "live hand grenade brought home from a distant battlefield."

It will, indeed, leave emotional shrapnel in you for days after watching it.

(BuzzFlash recommends that you watch the "bonus feature" about the making of the film, before you view the actual documentary.)

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