Their story is in danger of being lost to history. The men who came home from the Vietnam War represent a second silent generation. These are the men who won every battle in a lost war. Using the same experiential approach to storytelling as WWII in HD, HISTORY gives these veterans a voice. Through a collection of color Vietnam footage never seen by the public from private collections, museums, the US government, veteran’s and news organizations as well as sources from Vietnam, they tell their stories and relive their struggles, courage and fears. This six-hour miniseries spans the massive initial troop build-up in 1965 to the fall of Saigon a decade later. Sound design, using popular music from that era, powerfully evokes the time period and experience.
This film documents the Vietnam War in the words of Americans who served there. It features home movies and rare archival footage collected during a worldwide search and now presented in high definition. Many scenes are graphic in nature and viewer discretion is advised.
Vietnam in HD arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer in the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Okay the elephant in the room is the new method of stretching 4x3 elements into a 16x9 image. While I'm not a fan the stock footage is very lively with that great natural grain. There are quite a few shots that were super soft but that is the original source and not a mark against the transfer. Newly shot interview footage is crisp and exhibits strong color reproduction and black levels. So based on all the elements involved this was a very watchable presentation. 8/10
Audio is provided by a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Wow, I wasn't expecting this. LFE is deep and powerful, you'll feel like you were hit by a bullet sometimes. Any scene with a battle features a full 360 degree sound field with wonderful use of the surround channels to create a sense of being in the heat of battle. Narration was crisp and clean as was newly shot interviews. This is a real treat. 9.5/10
