The Boys Who Said No: Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War is a documentary film which premiered in 2020.
The title and the subtitle explain the topic: this film is about the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War with special focus on the resistance against the military draft.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Producers: Judith Ehrlich, Christopher Colorado Jones, and Bill Prince
** Director: Judith Ehrlich
** Writers: Judith Ehrlich and Michael Chandler
** Narrator: Michael Stewart Foley
** Run time: 90 minutes
More than 20 persons are interviewed in this film
Here are the names of the participants
Listed in alphabetical order
** Joan Baez (born 1941) – artist – folk singer – political activist – married to David Harris 1968-1973
** Mandy Carter – non-violent activist
** Bob Cooney – draft resister
** Bruce Dancis – draft resister – author of the book Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War (2014)
** Walter Dellenbach – member of Los Angeles Resistance
** Bob Eaton – draft resister
** Dr Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023) – political activist - whistleblower
** Dr Michael Ferber - member of Boston Resistance
** Geoff Fishman – draft resister
** Michael Stewart Foley – author of the book Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance during the Vietnam War (2003) – and narrator of this film
** Todd Friend (1947-2017) – draft resister
** Bill Garaway – draft resister
** David Harris (1946-2023) – co-founder of The Resistance – married to Joan Baez 1968-1973
** Christopher Colorado Jones (1949-2019) – draft resister – and co-producer of this film
** Randy Kehler (born 1944) – draft resister
** Steve Ladd – draft resister – and associate producer of this film
** Joe Maizlish (died in 2022) – draft resister
** Jay Moss – draft resister
** Mark Rudd – Weather Underground
** Dr Cleveland Sellers (born 1944) – a member of the organization SNCC 1964-1967
** Dr Melvin Small (born 1939) – author of the book Antiwarriors (2002)
** Lee Swenson (1939-2024) – draft resister
** Bob Zaugh (born 1945) – draft resister – executive producer of this film
Archive footage is used between the talking heads.
Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads.
Archive footage is used when the narrator is speaking.
This film shows how and why the movement against the military draft began and how it developed from 1964 until 1972 when it was ended by an act of Congress.
This film shows how the campaign against the draft was organized: what did the draft resisters do in order to make the campaign as effective as possible?
From time to time some statistics are presented on the screen. Here are two examples:
# 1. The number of draft resister cases
during the 1960s
** 1965 = 250
** 1966 = 450
** 1967 = 750
** 1968 = more than 1,000 cases pending
# 2. What happened to the draft resisters?
How many cases were registered?
** 200,000
How many persons were indicted?
** 20,000
How many persons were convicted?
** 8,000
How many persons were sent to prison?
** 4,000
Draft resisters came from all over the US. And they came from different social groups.
Many opinions were presented when draft resisters came together in order to decide what to do in order to create a successful campaign.
As explained in the film, there were disagreements within the movement.
Some members advocated the use of violence, while other members were opposed to such a line of action.
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 75 percent
Two user reviews are posted on IMDb
The first review offers a rating of 100 percent.
The headline says: “Must-see movie about resistance to the war against Vietnam”
The second review offers a rating of 70 percent
The headline says: “Very watchable home movie, though lacking as a Vietnam anti-draft documentary”
As you can see, both reviews are positive. You can also see that the second reviewer has some reservations. According to the second reviewer, this film is flawed.
What is wrong with it?
Here are some flaws mentioned in the review:
# 1. There is not much information about the Vietnam War itself.
Why did the Vietnam war provoke a growing movement against the draft? This did not happen during WWII or during the Korean war (1950-1953).
# 2. How did family and friends respond when a young man decided to resist the draft?
Many families were torn apart because of this conflict. But this aspect of the resistance against the draft is not discussed in the film.
# 3. Some draft resisters decided to organize a raid on a draft office in order to destroy the records of young men who could be drafted.
There were several actions like this. But only one case is mentioned. The Catonsville Nine. There were many other cases around the US.
For instance, in Camden (New Jersey) where 28 activists were arrested and later tried in a court of law. But this case is not mentioned in the film.
# 4. Some young men decided to avoid the draft by leaving the country.
Many went to Canada. Some went to Sweden. This approach was different. These people avoided the draft by disappearing from the US.
The draft resisters stayed in the US and opposed the draft. They were prepared to pay the price for their opposition to government policy.
The Americans who left the country were draft dodgers, not draft resisters. But they should be mentioned in a film about opposition to the draft.
I will mention an additional flaw:
During the 1960s, many members of popular movements had a feeling that they were being watched, but for a long time this was only an unconfirmed suspicion.
In 1971, the suspicion was confirmed, when a small group of activists raided a small FBI office in Pennsylvania.
The activists found government documents about something called COINTELPRO.
This abbreviation was the code-name of a secret FBI program whose purpose was to monitor, infiltrate and eventually destroy any popular movement which was regarded by the FBI as un-American and un-patriotic.
One of many popular movements which were monitored by the FBI was the movement for draft resistance. But COINTELPRO is not mentioned in this film.
One of the persons interviewed in this film is Daniel Ellsberg who released the Pentagon Papers to the media in 1971.
The Pentagon Papers showed that the US government had been lying to the American people about the Vietnam war for decades.
The release of these secret government documents in 1971 was one of many reasons why opposition against the war and against the draft was growing in the US in the beginning of the 1970s
The story about the resistance against the military draft is important. The story deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done quite well.
But not everything is good. As you can see, the film has some flaws, which cannot be ignored.
I have to remove one star because of these flaws. This product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS. Judith Ehrlich is producer and co-director of the film The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers which premiered in 2009.
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
Our War:
What We Did in Vietnam and What It Did to Us
By David Harris
(1996)
Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America’s Hearts and Minds
By Melvin Small
(2002)
Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War
By Michael Stewart Foley
(2003)
The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era
By Shawn Francis Peters
(2012)
Resister:
A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War
By Bruce Dancis
(2014)
Refusal to Submit: Roots of the Vietnam War and a Young Man’s Draft Resistance
By Richard Gould
(2017)
Against the Wall:
Memoirs of a Vietnam-Era War Resister
By Howard Lisnoff
(2017)
# 2. Film and video
The War at Home
(1979)
The Camden 28
(2007)
Hit & Stay
(2013)
1971
(2014)
*****
GIRLS SAY YES
to boys who say NO
A provocative poster from
the era of draft resistance
*****
The Catonsville Nine
burning stolen draft cards
outside a draft office.
Waiting to be arrested
when the police arrive
*****
The Camden 28
A documentary film
which premiered in 2007
*****
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