Editing War film (section)

=== Vietnam War ===
{{further|Vietnam War in film}}

Few films before the late 1970s about the [[Vietnam War]] actually depicted combat;{{sfn|Neale|2000|pp=121–124}} exceptions include ''[[The Green Berets (film)|The Green Berets]]'' (1968).{{sfn|Neale|2000|pp=121–124}} Critics such as Basinger explain that Hollywood avoided the subject because of [[opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War]], making the subject divisive; in addition, the film industry was in crisis, and the army did not wish to assist in making anti-war films.{{sfn|Neale|2000|pp=121–124}}{{sfn|Basinger|1986|pp=212–213}}

From the late 1970s, independently financed and produced films showed Hollywood that Vietnam could be treated in film. Successful but very different portrayals of the war in which America had been defeated included [[Michael Cimino]]'s ''[[The Deer Hunter]]'' (1978), and [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' (1979).{{sfn|Neale|2000|pp=121–124}} <!--both films won Oscars, would need refs for that--> With the shift in American politics to the right in the 1980s, military success could again be shown in films such as [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]'' (1986), [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' (1987) and [[John Irvin]]'s ''[[Hamburger Hill]]'' (1987).{{sfn|Neale|2000|pp=121–124}}

The Vietnamese director {{ill|Nguyễn Hồng Sến|vi}}'s ''[[The Abandoned Field: Free Fire Zone]]'' (''Cánh đồng hoang'', 1979) gives an "unnerving and compelling .. subjective-camera-eye-view" of life under helicopter fire in the [[Mekong Delta]] during the Vietnam War. The film cuts to an (American) "helicopter-eye view", contrasting painfully with the human tenderness seen earlier.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Abandoned Field-Free Fire Zone (Canh dong hoang) |url=http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN7762 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive |access-date=10 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402172423/http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN7762 |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref>