May 22nd, 2012
6:30 pm
Wil-Mar Center
953 Jenifer St
Events for 05/08/2010
May
8
A Special Screening of "The Good Soldier," the documentary film featuring Veteran Will Williams
May
8
Past - Saturday, May 08 2010 from 2 to 4 pm
Orpheum Theater, 216 State Street, Madison, WI
Sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Clarence Kailin Branch-Madison; Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice (WNPJ); Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)-Wisconsin; & Madison Area Peace Coalition (MAPC).
Allen, 608-255-0240; alruff@tds.net
Directed
by award winning filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys, "The
Good Soldier" follows the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of US wars as they sign up, go into battle, and eventually change their minds about what it means to be a good soldier. One of those featured is Madison's irrepressible Veteran for Peace, Will Williams. Williams will introduce the film. "It's hard to imagine watching a more affecting movie than "The Good Soldier" ... because it may be as affecting a movie as I've ever seen. It took one seemingly simple question---What makes a good soldier?---and reduced the answer to its essence. That being, the ability to kill other human beings. Using the voices of veterans from WWII, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Iraq, each gave this exact same answer, and they all spoke not only of their guilt and regret, but also of how at some point during their time in the military they needed to kill. Their reasons were different, but the training that gave them the skills and permission was not. I found it both hard to watch and hard to turn away from, and I know I'll never look at the words 'collateral damage' in the same way again. Really powerful stuff." - Jason Albert, the Onion "...a wonderful film...with great emotional power. It was a brilliant idea to hear veterans of the various wars -- World War II, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, the Iraq War -- because the net effect is to deal, not just with one odious war, but with the phenomenon of war as a universal evil. It is especially important, if we are to ditch forever the idea of 'good' wars, to tackle head on the war which is generally considered morally unassailable -- World War II." - Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States. |
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