Tuesday, November 26, 1996
FILM:
Award-winning documentary focuses on women’s role in warBy Lori
Swingle
Daily Bruin Contributor
When Nancy Kates began to create her master’s thesis documentary
at Stanford, she decided to tackle a very big subject Â
Vietnam. Even though it seems this monumental war has been
portrayed in every possible way, Kates became interested in a group
of veterans who, surprisingly, have been excluded from many of
these portrayals  women.
What Kates came up with was a documentary that chronicled the
lives of women veterans in Vietnam. And her film, "Their Own
Vietnam," which won an Academy Award for student documentaries,
plays tonight at Melnitz as part of the Academy’s Fall Documentary
Series.
Interviewing nearly 60 women, Kates became quite attached to the
project and discovered many women who were more than willing to
share their stories with someone who would listen. "I deal with the
truth. To do good work in this field, you have to hear people. You
have to make a few people and a few incidents symbolic of a bigger
event."
The documentary, "Their Own Vietnam," has rapidly taken Kates
from student to professional documentary filmmaker. The film has
gained popular recognition in audiences beyond the classroom while
shedding light on an important subject.
One problem facing Kates, however, is the general plight of
making documentaries. These smaller-scale films lack the commercial
advantages of big- budget feature films, and in a money-hungry
society, documentary filmmakers find it difficult to bring their
work to a larger audience.
"I was spending hours and hours alone in a darkroom, not knowing
if anyone would ever even see this film, so all the recognition
I’ve received is wonderful," Kates remarked.
"Their Own Vietnam" focuses on women’s stories about experiences
during the war and the difficult recoveries after. "I think, in
actuality, the experiences of both the men and women were similar,
but women weren’t expected to have problems. If they did, they just
had to keep quiet," Kates said. "Because they couldn’t talk about
it, their experiences have been silenced."
The five women featured in the film have distinctly different
voices, yet a common thread ties all of them together. It becomes
clear that their pain is deep, and that their lives have been
forever changed by the images of war that still linger fresh in
their minds.
Throughout the interviews, the sense of guilt and loss suffered
by the women is apparent. In making the film, Kates also became
aware of the issues of sex and romance which seemed to shape the
war in many of her subjects’ minds.
"While men lost buddies, women were losing their lovers," Kates
said, also acknowledging that "some of them have been unable to
have relationships in their adult lives. The women weren’t out
doing the killing, which adds to their guilt. Their jobs were to
save the lives of the wounded soldiers."
One woman in the documentary recalls the night when an officer
whom she had been dating stepped on a land mine off the side of the
road, while she and several other men sat in a truck on the way to
a dance. On the other hand, two of Kates’ subjects are lesbian
women who met while serving overseas and are still together.
Kates allowed the interviews to narrate the historical footage
she used, adding depth to the women’s words. The format allows the
viewer to feel more in touch with the women, while also documenting
the events of the war.
Throughout the film, Kates also spliced in humorous clips from
recruiting films. Women are shown chatting, laughing and shopping
in Vietnam, all for the purpose of luring American women overseas.
"The purpose for using those clips was the irony," Kates said.
"Vietnam was sold as being a fun place for women. They show women
looking in store windows and talking on pink telephones. It also
adds a bit of comic relief, which I think is important in a film
with such a serious subject matter."
Despite the success of Kates’ first documentary endeavor, she
has no plans to turn this film into a larger-scale work. "I want to
move on, to make other films," Kates said. "I’ve thought about it,
but I began to feel as though I was fighting a battle myself, and
there are other subjects I want to explore."
The feedback from this film has solidified her decision to
continue in the medium. "It’s all very encouraging to someone who
hasn’t done too much prior work," Kates reflected. "It just shows
that it is possible to move people without a $30-million
budget."
FILM: "Their Own Vietnam" will screen Tuesday 7:30 p.m. in
Melnitz Hall. For more information, call 206-FILM
Nancy Kates
Linda McClenahan is one of the five women featured in "Their Own
Vietnam," a documentary directed by Nancy Kates.