Generally, documentaries don't carry well in the
movie theater (that goes for the one's I've produced
as well). However, "Return with Honor" is an
exception. Its spirit is more than enough to scale a
70 foot screen.
Beginning with what in hindsight sounds like
pipe-dreams, "The clouds open up like fields of
cotton ... it's really beautiful," top-gun pilots
talk about the joy of flying ... and then the painful
reality of being shot down into enemy territory.
"I was taught to escape and evade under a variety
of conditions and terrain, and then after I was shot
down and ejected to the ground I was able to escape
and evade for all of five seconds before I was
surrounded by what seemed like a hundred guns." This
paraphrase sums up the "capture" segment of "Return
with Honor."
From there the POWs (now 25 years later) recount
their experiences in "Heartbreak Hotel" and other
prisons deep in Northern Vietnam. In a terribly
candid manner and then occasionally moved to tears
(or humor), these survivors sit as relaxed as old
friends and tell in detail the tragic hardships and
bone bending tortures that just needed to be endured.
Even at their breaking points, they seem somehow to
crawl away with chins up.
The interviews are shot on film and mixed with
occasion recreations. Most of the field footage is
real -- including images of the prisoners under
captivity (from the archives of North Vietnam).
"We weren't allowed to talk, but we had to
communicate, so we worked out a tap code. We coughed
in code, we raked leaves in code, we swept the floor
in code."
Some may see "Return with Honor" as an Air Force
propaganda film, and though it may tip in that
direction, the genuine testimonials of these "Heroes"
transcend political opinion. The filmmakers create a
work that progresses with a very sincere intensity
resulting in a rare mix of drama and fact. It has all
the soul of the Rambo movies, without the acting.
Truly inspirational.
|