The Whistleblower of My Lai
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- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
The massacre of over 500 innocent civilians by American soldiers in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968 was one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War. The events of that day may well have gone unnoticed save for the actions of a young army helicopter pilot who, by happenstance, witnessed the killing in the course of a routine reconnaissance flight. Appalled by what he saw, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson attempted to intercede. Aghast at his inability to stop the slaughter he reported the massacre to military high command thus putting the incident firmly in army records. In November 1969 Seymour Hersh broke the story in his Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé, which shook the national conscience. Thompson’s refusal to remain silent about the massacre forced the military to conduct an inquiry and trial.
Among the generation that came of age during the 1960’s were four artists—David Harrington of the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet, composer Jonathan Berger, novelist Harriet Scott Chessman, and singer Rinde Eckert—on whose lives the Vietnam War and its controversy left an indelible mark. Out of this concern they created a new music opera, with musician Vân-Ánh Võ, that explores the tragedy of My Lai through the perspective of Thompson’s naïve, heroically idealistic, ethical decision to act, and its consequences. The creativity of this artistic collaboration brings a whole new dimension of understanding of the Vietnam War and of Hugh Thompson that one cannot get from a traditional historical documentary. The intensity of the libretto, the power of the unique music, the focus of a haiku encapsulation of a specific story captures the essence of the tragedy of that war.
“This rare combination of documentary and opera provides a magnificent and heart rending account of four of the darkest hours in the Vietnam War. On March 16, 1968, reconnaissance pilot Hugh Thompson made a decision that shaped the rest of his life—to land his three-man helicopter in the village of My Lai in South Vietnam in an effort to stop American soldiers from killing 500 unarmed Vietnamese elderly men, women, children, and babies in an event known as the My Lai Massacre. Field’s production captures the absolute worst and the absolute best of humanity. Somehow Thompson kept his moral compass in this atmosphere of profound moral wrong and spoke truth to power: American soldiers committed mass murder at My Lai. The key question raised for viewers: What would you have done?"
- Howard Jones, University Research Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Alabama, Author of My Lai: Vietnam, 1968, and the Descent into Darkness
"Ideal for classroom use in social sciences, humanities and the arts, Field's masterpiece beautifully weaves the story of an unknown hero of war, creatively combining cinema and opera to tell the tale of unspeakable horror and the one who tried to stop it."
- Professor David Cortright, University of Notre Dame
Citation
Main credits
Field, Connie (film producer)
Field, Connie (film director)
Field, Connie (director of photography)
Scharpen, Gregory (film producer)
Scharpen, Gregory (editor of moving image work)
Berger, Jonathan (composer)
Chessman, Harriet Scott (librettist)
Eckert, Rinde (performer)
V̄o, Vân-Ánh Vanessa (performer)
Other credits
Edited by Gregory Scharpen; camera, Connie Field; music performed by Kronos Quartet, Rinde Eckert and Vân-Ánh Vo.
Distributor subjects
20th Century; American Studies; Drama and Theater; Performing Arts; History; Music; The 1960s and Vietnam Era; U.S. History; Vietnam; War and PeaceKeywords
WEBVTT
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(singing in foreign language)
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(tense, mysterious music)
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(helicopter whirring)
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in my political consciousness.
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I think I was 13 or 14 years old when the event happened.
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(fire crackling)
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The realization that American soldiers
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were carrying out these horrific acts
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was just so brutally clear.
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(fire crackling)
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to make musical theater, opera to explore
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some of his own feelings about the war in Vietnam,
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and he had this story.
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I mean I\'d heard about My Lai before.
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I\'d never heard about Hugh Thompson.
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(tense, chaotic music)
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(dramatic music)
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so I grew up in a polarized nation in which the war
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was central to my entire political upbringing.
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♪ Have you seen the Americans searching ♪
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are largely inseparable.
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The underlying need to use music as a vehicle
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to state a message is always there with me.
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(audience applauding)
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When The War Reporter premiered Kronos came,
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and I sort of off-handedly told David Harrington
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I want to do this piece with My Lai.
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And I suddenly realized that Vietnam was
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as fundamentally important to the life of David Harrington
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as it was to me.
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And there was this connection on the basis of,
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sort of the political need to do this.
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One, two, three.
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(tense, chaotic classical music)
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And I was hearing in Jonathan\'s voice
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and the way he was speaking about My Lai that this was going
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to be something very central to his sense of himself.
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Seymour Hirsch from The New York Times broke this story
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and made it come out.
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I mean in a way, for a 14 year old, 15 year old kid
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it was sort of like obsessively reading a serial novel
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that you just had to glean onto every single word.
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It became a fixation for me.
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by the end of my high school years and into college.
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I grew up in a Jewish family in the context
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of post-Holocaust mentality, where everything
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revolved around one must ensure that that sort of atrocity
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never happens again.
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And the word genocide was a very real word in my family.
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So yes, it really was a life shaping moment.
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(dramatic classical music)
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out how to do the kinds of things that felt right,
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it was very confusing.
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(guns firing)
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I mean I\'ll never forget turning on the television
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when I was in high school and actually seeing people dying
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in real, you know, it\'s really happening.
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(somber music)
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And
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I\'d never seen anything quite like that before.
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(guns firing)
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It was very disorienting, and for many of us it was hard
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to know what the right kind of music was to play.
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And then for me what happened is that on the radio one night
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in August OF 1973, I heard music of George Crumb
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in a piece called Black Angels.
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(chaotic, shrill music)
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(explosion roaring)
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And that\'s why I started Kronos.
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I needed to get a group going that would spend a lot of time
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figuring out how to play that piece.
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The Kronos has been on the scene all the while
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I\'ve been making music,
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and they\'ve been the rock stars of the field.
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So on one level, you know, it\'s you\'re suddenly asked
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to do something with The Beatles.
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(eerie music)
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for me there was this symmetry.
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And I\'m always looking for that in nature and in our work.
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(somber, dramatic music)
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Kronos had been working with Van-Anh Vo,
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the Vietnamese musician.
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(tense music)
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And I couldn\'t imagine doing anything about My Lai
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without having Van-Anh a part of it.
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an ignorant young generation who was born after the war.
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I heard stories from my parents, but don\'t know,
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I didn\'t think about it that much.
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(cannon roaring)
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My father told me that during the Vietnam War
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he was draft into the army, but to avoid holding gun
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he chose to be a musician even though
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he played the guitar very, not so good.
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So he had to rush into the battlefield right
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after the two sides stopped shooting,
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so he had to play the music to cheer up the soldiers.
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So his risk would be the he could get killed by sniper.
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But at least he felt that it was much better
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than holding a gun and shooting to somebody else.
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I went to visit Van-Anh and spent the afternoon with her.
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by her intense musicality.
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I tell them what is advantage, disadvantage
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of the instrument and then they go ahead and write
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whatever they have in mind.
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And then I will work on that,
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and then I see how it fit with my instrument.
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If it doesn\'t I propose what would be the solution.
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You know the structure of the bamboo xylophone,
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the t\'rung, is so special that some notes I have two sides
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to play, but some notes I just have one.
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For example, like C I only have one C and one C sharp.
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So when I have bum bum,
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then I have to jump into here, B, right.
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But then F would be on the same side.
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So that will slow down the whole speed.
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crossing over then you can do it at that speed.
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(bright music)
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and wonderful traditional instruments but one
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of the major weapons that were used by the Viet Cong
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were spiked bamboo exactly like these.
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The other instrument that\'s of note is a gong.
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And it turns out that the gongs in Vietnam
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are all fashioned from American mortar shells.
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collect artillery shells from everywhere.
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And then I came, you can see like the whole house
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with artillery shells.
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And I had to choose the one that have the best sound still.
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(metal ringing)
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My parents took in two of thIS and me took in two of this.
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And we were very worried because it look like
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it\'s an artillery shell. (laughs)
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But I had to make sure that we cleaned well
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so that no explosive, you know,
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for anything that happened like that.
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(gong ringing dramatically)
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in which weapons are playing the music.
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(dramatic music)
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And she has a beautiful, beautiful style of play.
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It\'s a very interesting approach to an instrument.
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I mean, it\'s really gorgeous.
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So to have a Vietnamese person, who\'s well versed
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in the instruments, in this ensemble
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is very, very important.
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And then also another reason that it\'s going to be exciting
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is to be able to play with Rinde, Rinde Eckert,
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who\'s an incredible singer.
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How are you?
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I know his range.
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I know how dramatic he can get,
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and so I was writing this very much for him.
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as you did the last time I saw you.
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What is it, 15 years ago or something?
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Kronos and I were in the same situation when we started,
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in that we were looking at this thing
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which is extremely difficult.
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There are copious rhythm changes,
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meter changes, tempo changes.
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You\'re going from seven-eight to five-eight
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to three-eight then back to four-four,
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two measures of four-four, then a six-four
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and then a seven-eight.
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I keep misreading this,
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because it\'s a quarter note triplet in a two-four there.
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Geez. (sighs)
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I\'ll try and do the right word this time.
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♪ Beau, beauty ♪
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And all through it you\'re trying to slow up the tempo
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a little bit and then speed it up a little bit.
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(upbeat classical music)
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Now Kronos, this is what they do for a living.
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So they do this pretty well, but even they were like going,
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this is really tough to count.
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It\'s easy.
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Convince yourself that it\'s easy.
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(chaotic classical music)
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about new work is that it\'s tougher than old work to master.
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Old work has a precedent.
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It\'s like the hundredth monkey effect.
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Lots of people have done this work,
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you\'ve heard it lots of times.
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With a new work of art you\'re the first person to do it.
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Nobody\'s ever heard this work before.
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You don\'t know how it\'s supposed to go.
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or something like that?
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We couldn\'t tell, \'cause we were playing it so badly.
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I was singing it badly.
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They were playing it not so well either.
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♪ The ocean is glistening ♪
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(clears throat)
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♪ The field shines ♪
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(clears throat)
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Oh, sorry about that guys. (clears throat)
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Nothing like an instrument that you can glue into and just--
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(laughing)
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While you\'re in the middle of your playing
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somebody just pours some glue in there.
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(clears throat)
(laughing)
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playing more together, playing more beautifully,
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playing more ugly if we have to.
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That\'s what we do.
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Does everybody know that I\'m taking John\'s part at 67?
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251
00:14:38.308 --> 00:14:39.873
(laughing)
252
00:14:39.873 --> 00:14:42.713
Nobody noticed what John was doing.
253
00:14:42.713 --> 00:14:43.921
254
00:14:43.921 --> 00:14:45.488
(chaotic violin music)
255
00:14:45.488 --> 00:14:46.324
256
00:14:46.324 --> 00:14:49.260
(laughing)
257
00:14:49.260 --> 00:14:52.299
258
00:14:52.299 --> 00:14:56.166
of people who couldn\'t otherwise say anything.
259
00:14:56.166 --> 00:14:59.541
(dramatic music)
260
00:14:59.541 --> 00:15:02.637
Jonathan\'s music is beautiful, I have to say that.
261
00:15:02.637 --> 00:15:03.541
Beautiful.
262
00:15:03.541 --> 00:15:07.069
And he gave me the freedom to insert characteristics
263
00:15:07.069 --> 00:15:08.875
of Vietnamese music.
264
00:15:08.875 --> 00:15:11.863
Okay, so this is how I have to go.
265
00:15:11.863 --> 00:15:14.780
(rhythmic chiming)
266
00:15:16.544 --> 00:15:17.377
267
00:15:17.377 --> 00:15:18.950
(violin screeching)
268
00:15:18.950 --> 00:15:19.783
It\'s.
269
00:15:19.783 --> 00:15:20.616
(violin screeching)
270
00:15:20.616 --> 00:15:23.964
♪ Dum da, dut dut, dah dah dah, da da da da da da ♪
271
00:15:23.964 --> 00:15:25.028
272
00:15:25.028 --> 00:15:27.195
(chiming)
273
00:15:32.395 --> 00:15:35.062
♪ Once you land ♪
274
00:15:36.357 --> 00:15:39.796
(dramatic classical music)
275
00:15:39.796 --> 00:15:43.296
♪ There\'s no turning back ♪
276
00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.441
277
00:15:48.441 --> 00:15:50.167
of mine, Harriet Chessman.
278
00:15:50.167 --> 00:15:53.848
She had just finished a book in which one of her characters
279
00:15:53.848 --> 00:15:56.192
was a Vietnam veteran,
280
00:15:56.192 --> 00:15:59.442
and it was a beautiful, powerful book.
281
00:16:00.945 --> 00:16:02.279
282
00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:05.174
when something that\'s quiet and on the page
283
00:16:05.174 --> 00:16:10.174
becomes something being given flesh and color and dimension.
284
00:16:16.090 --> 00:16:18.594
♪ All for you ♪
285
00:16:18.594 --> 00:16:21.629
286
00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:24.434
(dramatic classical music)
287
00:16:24.434 --> 00:16:26.934
♪ Hello, yeah ♪
288
00:16:29.265 --> 00:16:31.409
And then there was one rehearsal
289
00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:34.242
where we knew what we were doing.
290
00:16:35.504 --> 00:16:40.504
♪ I just, I just ♪
291
00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:47.360
♪ I just wanted to talk to Larry ♪
292
00:16:49.844 --> 00:16:53.675
♪ Can I leave him a message ♪
293
00:16:53.675 --> 00:16:56.480
♪ Tell him I called ♪
294
00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.730
♪ Tell him Hugh called ♪
295
00:17:23.615 --> 00:17:24.695
296
00:17:24.695 --> 00:17:25.596
297
00:17:25.596 --> 00:17:27.453
298
00:17:27.453 --> 00:17:28.354
299
00:17:28.354 --> 00:17:32.649
300
00:17:32.649 --> 00:17:34.488
This is gonna work.
301
00:17:34.488 --> 00:17:36.279
This is going to work.
302
00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:38.854
(laughs) That was a great moment.
303
00:17:38.854 --> 00:17:40.220
304
00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:41.606
305
00:17:41.606 --> 00:17:43.532
306
00:17:43.532 --> 00:17:47.282
I do what I do and they make music out of it.
307
00:17:48.656 --> 00:17:52.989
(dramatic, somber classical music)
308
00:18:11.187 --> 00:18:15.937
309
00:18:18.126 --> 00:18:21.772
Just horrendous, just horrendous to hear
310
00:18:21.772 --> 00:18:23.759
that a whole village and their surroundings
311
00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:25.926
were completely destroyed.
312
00:18:27.318 --> 00:18:29.568
Just, just can\'t fathom it.
313
00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:33.339
314
00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:35.506
going through this village
315
00:18:36.969 --> 00:18:40.302
raping, bayoneting, murdering civilians.
316
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:52.186
At least 500 people of all ages were massacred that day.
317
00:18:54.581 --> 00:18:59.498
318
00:19:01.573 --> 00:19:04.182
319
00:19:04.182 --> 00:19:05.834
This is about a remarkable man.
320
00:19:05.834 --> 00:19:07.930
This is about an exception.
321
00:19:07.930 --> 00:19:10.315
Hugh Thompson is an exception.
322
00:19:10.315 --> 00:19:14.600
♪ I always wanted to fly. ♪
323
00:19:14.600 --> 00:19:17.683
(tense, eerie music)
324
00:19:20.921 --> 00:19:22.905
325
00:19:22.905 --> 00:19:25.228
or 23 year-old reconnaissance pilot.
326
00:19:25.228 --> 00:19:29.136
He flew a small helicopter with a crew of three people.
327
00:19:29.136 --> 00:19:31.353
Happened to fly over Son My and looked down
328
00:19:31.353 --> 00:19:34.006
and saw something wrong happening in My Lai.
329
00:19:34.006 --> 00:19:36.494
(dramatic, intense classical music)
330
00:19:36.494 --> 00:19:39.199
He radioed to check what was going on.
331
00:19:39.199 --> 00:19:41.032
He got evasive answers
332
00:19:41.896 --> 00:19:45.005
and at that moment made his first decision.
333
00:19:45.005 --> 00:19:48.732
He just could not fly over and shrug his shoulders.
334
00:19:48.732 --> 00:19:51.982
So he made his first of three landings.
335
00:19:55.022 --> 00:19:57.101
I mean, it almost speaks drama by itself,
336
00:19:57.101 --> 00:19:59.544
the fact that he landed three times
337
00:19:59.544 --> 00:20:03.036
and each time had a different, different outcome
338
00:20:03.036 --> 00:20:04.638
and a different objective.
339
00:20:04.638 --> 00:20:06.143
And so that was pretty clear to me
340
00:20:06.143 --> 00:20:09.062
that these three landings would be the outline of the piece.
341
00:20:09.062 --> 00:20:10.959
342
00:20:10.959 --> 00:20:13.597
Then what I did was at the beginning I just sat
343
00:20:13.597 --> 00:20:17.202 line:15%
with my computer and I had the first line.
344
00:20:17.202 --> 00:20:18.608 line:15%
Thank Heavens I got the first line,
345
00:20:18.608 --> 00:20:21.674
because if you can do that you can keep moving.
346
00:20:21.674 --> 00:20:24.756
I suddenly thought oh my God, My Lord, What a Morning.
347
00:20:24.756 --> 00:20:27.492
My Lord, you know that song.
348
00:20:27.492 --> 00:20:29.996
(gong ringing)
349
00:20:29.996 --> 00:20:32.129
Which is actually, if you listen to the words,
350
00:20:32.129 --> 00:20:34.754
it\'s really My Lord, What a Morning,
351
00:20:34.754 --> 00:20:36.709
but it\'s actually about the end of days.
352
00:20:36.709 --> 00:20:38.616
(gong ringing)
353
00:20:38.616 --> 00:20:42.321
It\'s actually about beyond time, it\'s when everything,
354
00:20:42.321 --> 00:20:45.335
when the stars begin to fall.
355
00:20:45.335 --> 00:20:50.335
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
356
00:20:53.747 --> 00:20:58.747
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
357
00:21:03.132 --> 00:21:06.632
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
358
00:21:14.084 --> 00:21:19.084
♪ When the stars, the stars ♪
359
00:21:23.523 --> 00:21:27.981
♪ The stars ♪
360
00:21:27.981 --> 00:21:30.231
♪ Begin to ♪
361
00:21:32.756 --> 00:21:36.423
(dramatic classical music)
362
00:21:39.483 --> 00:21:40.995
363
00:21:40.995 --> 00:21:42.995
of Hugh dying of cancer.
364
00:21:45.745 --> 00:21:47.823
He\'s in his last days.
365
00:21:47.823 --> 00:21:50.791
And he\'s in one sense trying to end his life
366
00:21:50.791 --> 00:21:52.374
with peace of mind.
367
00:21:55.042 --> 00:21:58.162
And he has obsessive memories about this event.
368
00:21:58.162 --> 00:22:01.731
This event has plagued him until his dying day.
369
00:22:01.731 --> 00:22:03.705
We know that\'s true.
370
00:22:03.705 --> 00:22:07.705
(intense, dark classical music)
371
00:22:31.230 --> 00:22:36.230
♪ I always wanted to fly ♪
372
00:22:38.388 --> 00:22:41.847
♪ To fly ♪
373
00:22:41.847 --> 00:22:44.093
♪ Rise up like a bird ♪
374
00:22:44.093 --> 00:22:48.252
♪ To fly ♪
375
00:22:48.252 --> 00:22:53.161
♪ To fly ♪
376
00:22:53.161 --> 00:22:58.161
♪ This cancer, son of a bitch infantry ♪
377
00:22:59.837 --> 00:23:04.837
♪ Moves through me ♪
378
00:23:05.391 --> 00:23:08.891
♪ I always wanted to fly ♪
379
00:23:23.814 --> 00:23:25.389
I needed to get at the complexity
380
00:23:25.389 --> 00:23:27.639
of this moment in his life.
381
00:23:29.135 --> 00:23:32.813
You know, between the horror of it and the celebration
382
00:23:32.813 --> 00:23:37.813
of a heroic act and the pathos of the end of someone\'s life,
383
00:23:40.052 --> 00:23:42.959
you know, and the loneliness of that.
384
00:23:42.959 --> 00:23:45.798
Where you have a body that\'s failing,
385
00:23:45.798 --> 00:23:48.448
you have a spirit that\'s fighting,
386
00:23:48.448 --> 00:23:51.001
you have a memory you\'re fighting, you have an honor
387
00:23:51.001 --> 00:23:53.524
that you are, that you feel.
388
00:23:53.524 --> 00:23:56.397
I mean, you know, he felt dignified.
389
00:23:56.397 --> 00:24:00.027
So it\'s a very interesting and complicated moment.
390
00:24:00.027 --> 00:24:05.027
♪ They had no chance ♪
391
00:24:09.290 --> 00:24:12.207
♪ No chance to fly ♪
392
00:24:15.879 --> 00:24:17.105
393
00:24:17.105 --> 00:24:19.319
They had no chance to fly.
394
00:24:19.319 --> 00:24:22.094
And then he goes back and says,
395
00:24:22.094 --> 00:24:26.432
and says I want to fly out of my body and out of my soul.
396
00:24:26.432 --> 00:24:29.515
And that\'s how the introduction ends.
397
00:24:30.585 --> 00:24:34.108
And so in the first six minutes of the opera,
398
00:24:34.108 --> 00:24:36.181
we don\'t really know what this is about.
399
00:24:36.181 --> 00:24:39.674
So then the second scene, which I\'m working on now,
400
00:24:39.674 --> 00:24:42.580
it starts with him as a reconnaissance pilot looking down
401
00:24:42.580 --> 00:24:45.159
as if he\'s looking down from a helicopter.
402
00:24:45.159 --> 00:24:49.927
And he says, I wish, I wish my little boy can see this.
403
00:24:49.927 --> 00:24:51.637
He had a son, whose name was Bucky.
404
00:24:51.637 --> 00:24:53.263
He said I wish my little boy could see this,
405
00:24:53.263 --> 00:24:57.108
I wish Bucky could see this, this beauty.
406
00:24:57.108 --> 00:25:00.399
And he\'s just enjoying the landscape.
407
00:25:00.399 --> 00:25:03.577
And then the word this becomes the pivot,
408
00:25:03.577 --> 00:25:06.085
because this becomes not so beautiful,
409
00:25:06.085 --> 00:25:09.000
but he realizes something dreadful is going on.
410
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.141
♪ This ♪
411
00:25:11.141 --> 00:25:15.188
(tense, chaotic classical music)
412
00:25:15.188 --> 00:25:19.528
♪ This ♪
413
00:25:19.528 --> 00:25:21.528
♪ This ♪
414
00:25:34.321 --> 00:25:36.989
That\'s an interesting moment in one\'s life.
415
00:25:36.989 --> 00:25:39.405
You think I could turn this helicopter around
416
00:25:39.405 --> 00:25:43.004
and forget all about this and live my life.
417
00:25:43.004 --> 00:25:46.352
But he turned that helicopter and said I can\'t live my life
418
00:25:46.352 --> 00:25:47.803
if I don\'t intervene.
419
00:25:47.803 --> 00:25:49.271
I have to do this.
420
00:25:49.271 --> 00:25:54.271
♪ I\'m taking her down ♪
421
00:25:54.281 --> 00:25:58.455
♪ I\'m taking her down ♪
422
00:25:58.455 --> 00:26:00.845
♪ Open the door ♪
423
00:26:00.845 --> 00:26:03.512
♪ Open the door ♪
424
00:26:07.487 --> 00:26:08.707
425
00:26:08.707 --> 00:26:12.273
in the context of opening this door three times.
426
00:26:12.273 --> 00:26:15.002
And so the door became sort of a metaphor for me.
427
00:26:15.002 --> 00:26:15.835
♪ Open the door ♪
428
00:26:15.835 --> 00:26:16.830
429
00:26:16.830 --> 00:26:20.612
♪ Open the door ♪
430
00:26:20.612 --> 00:26:23.757
♪ Open the fucking door ♪
431
00:26:23.757 --> 00:26:26.924
(helicopter whirring)
432
00:26:30.389 --> 00:26:33.923
433
00:26:33.923 --> 00:26:36.499
(dramatic music)
434
00:26:36.499 --> 00:26:40.499
This ditch that seemed to be filled with bodies.
435
00:26:42.292 --> 00:26:44.320
(dramatic clicking)
436
00:26:44.320 --> 00:26:46.214
Lieutenant Calley was especially involved
437
00:26:46.214 --> 00:26:50.547
in ordering soldiers to push people up to this ditch
438
00:26:52.458 --> 00:26:54.343
and then firing at the people
439
00:26:54.343 --> 00:26:56.766
and they would fall into the ditch.
440
00:26:56.766 --> 00:26:59.516
Babies, children, women, elderly.
441
00:27:01.301 --> 00:27:04.183
Very much like the Nazis.
442
00:27:04.183 --> 00:27:06.612
Babies would try to crawl out of the ditch,
443
00:27:06.612 --> 00:27:09.166
you know the toddlers, and they would be shot.
444
00:27:09.166 --> 00:27:11.201 line:15%
(tense, eerie music)
445
00:27:11.201 --> 00:27:15.458 line:15%
446
00:27:15.458 --> 00:27:16.732 line:15%
447
00:27:16.732 --> 00:27:18.523 line:15%
448
00:27:18.523 --> 00:27:19.436
449
00:27:19.436 --> 00:27:20.771
450
00:27:20.771 --> 00:27:25.509
451
00:27:25.509 --> 00:27:26.408
452
00:27:26.408 --> 00:27:29.093
It\'s just one of them things.
453
00:27:29.093 --> 00:27:33.706
♪ Long, long ♪
454
00:27:33.706 --> 00:27:35.623
♪ Long ♪
455
00:27:37.007 --> 00:27:39.049
456
00:27:39.049 --> 00:27:41.201
were having their lunch.
457
00:27:41.201 --> 00:27:43.642
They were just sitting for a break and a couple
458
00:27:43.642 --> 00:27:48.195
of very small Vietnamese children came up to them,
459
00:27:48.195 --> 00:27:50.471
and they gave them some of their lunch.
460
00:27:50.471 --> 00:27:54.388
After they\'d been killing children all morning.
461
00:27:57.041 --> 00:27:58.541
Just very strange.
462
00:28:00.652 --> 00:28:03.402
♪ The long ditch ♪
463
00:28:07.188 --> 00:28:10.277 line:15%
464
00:28:10.277 --> 00:28:11.639 line:15%
of them were still alive,
465
00:28:11.639 --> 00:28:15.240 line:15%
so I sat down on the ground then and talked to,
466
00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:17.665 line:15%
I\'m pretty sure he was a Sergeant, and I asked him,
467
00:28:17.665 --> 00:28:19.225
well I told him that there was, you know,
468
00:28:19.225 --> 00:28:21.398
women and kids over there that were wounded,
469
00:28:21.398 --> 00:28:22.965
could he help \'em?
470
00:28:22.965 --> 00:28:25.158
And he made something to the remark the only way
471
00:28:25.158 --> 00:28:28.199
he could help them was to kill them.
472
00:28:28.199 --> 00:28:33.199
♪ The long, the long ditch ♪
473
00:28:36.548 --> 00:28:41.548
♪ The long, the long ditch ♪
474
00:28:43.810 --> 00:28:48.810
♪ Every morning ♪
475
00:28:50.688 --> 00:28:55.688
♪ Every day ♪
476
00:28:55.780 --> 00:28:58.242
♪ The long ditch ♪
477
00:28:58.242 --> 00:29:02.396
478
00:29:02.396 --> 00:29:04.563
with rage and helplessness
479
00:29:07.428 --> 00:29:09.619
and confusion, fury.
480
00:29:09.619 --> 00:29:14.369
And as they hovered they saw a wounded girl on the ground
481
00:29:15.499 --> 00:29:16.715
and an officer coming up to her.
482
00:29:16.715 --> 00:29:18.051
(dramatic music)
483
00:29:18.051 --> 00:29:22.662
♪ The Captain walks up ♪
484
00:29:22.662 --> 00:29:26.995
♪ Pokes her with his boot, his boot ♪
485
00:29:33.546 --> 00:29:38.546
♪ He raises his automatic and ♪
486
00:29:41.350 --> 00:29:46.350
♪ God in Heaven ♪
487
00:29:50.666 --> 00:29:55.666
♪ What did you do ♪
488
00:29:57.073 --> 00:30:01.156
♪ Creating such a son of a bitch ♪
489
00:30:23.255 --> 00:30:26.262
It\'s incumbent upon the leaders, like Captain Medina,
490
00:30:26.262 --> 00:30:29.496
who was never prosecuted, of course, to actually step up
491
00:30:29.496 --> 00:30:31.855
and say guys, stand down.
492
00:30:31.855 --> 00:30:33.535
It\'s their job to understand the psychology
493
00:30:33.535 --> 00:30:36.015
that\'s driving their troops
494
00:30:36.015 --> 00:30:39.140
and to understand how dangerous that is.
495
00:30:39.140 --> 00:30:42.249
Those are the guys that should have been prosecuted.
496
00:30:42.249 --> 00:30:44.070
Medina should have been thrown in jail.
497
00:30:44.070 --> 00:30:45.416
498
00:30:45.416 --> 00:30:47.134
499
00:30:47.134 --> 00:30:48.035
500
00:30:48.035 --> 00:30:48.868
501
00:30:49.822 --> 00:30:51.657
502
00:30:51.657 --> 00:30:54.526
when he sees Captain Medina walk up
503
00:30:54.526 --> 00:30:59.276
and blow this civilian away like it was just what you do.
504
00:31:00.284 --> 00:31:03.117
(dramatic music)
505
00:31:08.828 --> 00:31:10.944
506
00:31:10.944 --> 00:31:13.083
in the Jewish Day of Atonement in the Yom Kippur.
507
00:31:13.083 --> 00:31:17.732
At the very end of there is a metaphor of the doors closing.
508
00:31:17.732 --> 00:31:20.838
God\'s door, God is closing the door and you have no more,
509
00:31:20.838 --> 00:31:22.429
no more chance to repent.
510
00:31:22.429 --> 00:31:27.429
So here\'s a clip from a Sephardic recitation of this prayer.
511
00:31:27.503 --> 00:31:31.420
(singing in foreign language)
512
00:31:42.450 --> 00:31:45.509
It is a day of fasting and self-reflection
513
00:31:45.509 --> 00:31:47.367
and you\'re supposed to repent for,
514
00:31:47.367 --> 00:31:49.524
think about all you\'ve done wrong during the year.
515
00:31:49.524 --> 00:31:51.502
And so at the very last chance to repent
516
00:31:51.502 --> 00:31:53.889
there are special prayers that say, that remind you
517
00:31:53.889 --> 00:31:55.691
that the door is closing.
518
00:31:55.691 --> 00:31:58.642
And in one of the lines of that, that,
519
00:31:58.642 --> 00:32:00.813
that closing door there\'s this sentence
520
00:32:00.813 --> 00:32:03.574
that roughly translated says,
521
00:32:03.574 --> 00:32:07.303
to those who oppress and to those who fight,
522
00:32:07.303 --> 00:32:09.386
let there be justice done
523
00:32:10.313 --> 00:32:12.332
at the time the gates are closing.
524
00:32:12.332 --> 00:32:15.009
It\'s the only sentence that\'s really ambiguous,
525
00:32:15.009 --> 00:32:18.759
because it doesn\'t say you will be forgiven.
526
00:32:29.721 --> 00:32:33.335
So this is the string quartet playing a version of this,
527
00:32:33.335 --> 00:32:35.623
the gate is closing, you have this last chance
528
00:32:35.623 --> 00:32:37.040
to say something.
529
00:32:38.105 --> 00:32:39.578
I think it\'ll work.
530
00:32:39.578 --> 00:32:43.078
(intense classical music)
531
00:33:34.894 --> 00:33:36.977
532
00:33:36.977 --> 00:33:39.009
I can\'t write Act Two.
533
00:33:39.009 --> 00:33:40.297
I won\'t be able to write it.
534
00:33:40.297 --> 00:33:43.964
(dramatic Vietnamese music)
535
00:33:48.730 --> 00:33:52.109
There was this hole in the middle by the end,
536
00:33:52.109 --> 00:33:56.276
because it was like, Jonathan was like no, no, no.
537
00:33:58.397 --> 00:34:00.480
And I was like, oh, what?
538
00:34:03.776 --> 00:34:06.609
I had a real crisis of confidence.
539
00:34:10.567 --> 00:34:13.042
The way I found out of it was, I was actually sick
540
00:34:13.042 --> 00:34:16.915
when I finally wrote what basically Jonathan accepted
541
00:34:16.915 --> 00:34:19.373
as the libretto for the Second Act.
542
00:34:19.373 --> 00:34:22.751
I was sick, my head was very congested
543
00:34:22.751 --> 00:34:26.311
and I thought I have to hold to Hugh Thompson.
544
00:34:26.311 --> 00:34:28.555
I have to hold to him.
545
00:34:28.555 --> 00:34:30.079
I have to hold to him.
546
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:32.894
What is happening to him in that helicopter?
547
00:34:32.894 --> 00:34:35.107
Why does he go back down?
548
00:34:35.107 --> 00:34:37.403
And Jonathan had said something interesting in one email.
549
00:34:37.403 --> 00:34:40.506
He said, did he question going back down?
550
00:34:40.506 --> 00:34:42.511
And until that moment I hadn\'t actually thought of that.
551
00:34:42.511 --> 00:34:43.400
And then it was like.
552
00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:45.182
As soon as Jonathan said that I was like,
553
00:34:45.182 --> 00:34:46.693
yes, he questioned it.
554
00:34:46.693 --> 00:34:49.062
Who would go back down?
555
00:34:49.062 --> 00:34:50.350
Who would want to do that?
556
00:34:50.350 --> 00:34:51.802
And yet how could you not?
557
00:34:51.802 --> 00:34:54.177
(dramatic music)
558
00:34:54.177 --> 00:34:57.172
And so this passage that I ended up calling Hovering
559
00:34:57.172 --> 00:34:59.328
came into being.
560
00:34:59.328 --> 00:35:04.328
♪ The ocean is glistening ♪
561
00:35:06.281 --> 00:35:11.281
♪ The fields shine ♪
562
00:35:12.275 --> 00:35:17.275
♪ Once you land ♪
563
00:35:19.594 --> 00:35:24.594
♪ There\'s no going back ♪
564
00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:28.409
♪ You can\'t just hover ♪
565
00:35:29.447 --> 00:35:31.600
(helicopter whirring)
566
00:35:31.600 --> 00:35:34.767
♪ You have to go down ♪
567
00:35:45.086 --> 00:35:50.086
♪ Down into the madness ♪
568
00:35:52.933 --> 00:35:57.933
♪ And dive, and dive and dive ♪
569
00:35:59.186 --> 00:36:04.186
♪ Ah, into the madness ♪
570
00:36:07.099 --> 00:36:09.158
♪ I\'m going to try to stop this ♪
571
00:36:09.158 --> 00:36:10.891
♪ I\'m going to take her down ♪
572
00:36:10.891 --> 00:36:15.891
♪ Right there, there, between those children and our troops ♪
573
00:36:21.967 --> 00:36:23.773
♪ We\'re going to try to stop this ♪
574
00:36:23.773 --> 00:36:27.329
♪ Larry, man your guns ♪
575
00:36:27.329 --> 00:36:32.329
♪ If those bastards open fire on the children in the bunker ♪
576
00:36:39.841 --> 00:36:44.841
♪ Blow them away, blow them away ♪
577
00:36:45.487 --> 00:36:50.487
♪ Blow them away ♪
578
00:36:50.591 --> 00:36:54.174
♪ Blow those bastards away ♪
579
00:37:04.501 --> 00:37:06.837
580
00:37:06.837 --> 00:37:08.285
when this happened.
581
00:37:08.285 --> 00:37:10.853
That\'s really mind-boggling.
582
00:37:10.853 --> 00:37:15.103
583
00:37:16.036 --> 00:37:17.941
I don\'t know that I have that kind of courage.
584
00:37:17.941 --> 00:37:19.952
I don\'t think anybody knows until the moment
585
00:37:19.952 --> 00:37:21.624
where you\'re in the helicopter,
586
00:37:21.624 --> 00:37:24.187
where you\'re faced with a moral decision and you know
587
00:37:24.187 --> 00:37:27.503
my life is never going to be the same after this.
588
00:37:27.503 --> 00:37:29.041
You know, that\'s it, this is the moment,
589
00:37:29.041 --> 00:37:30.635
this is the moment of my life.
590
00:37:30.635 --> 00:37:32.170
And we don\'t know what we\'re going to do
591
00:37:32.170 --> 00:37:33.518
in that moment of our lives.
592
00:37:33.518 --> 00:37:36.459
We hope that, we hope that somehow
593
00:37:36.459 --> 00:37:38.852
we have the proper moral compass to do this.
594
00:37:38.852 --> 00:37:40.287
Hugh Thompson did.
595
00:37:40.287 --> 00:37:42.762
It\'s an amazing thing, amazing.
596
00:37:42.762 --> 00:37:45.177
(somber classical music)
597
00:37:45.177 --> 00:37:46.839
598
00:37:46.839 --> 00:37:49.262
What would I, I know what I should have done,
599
00:37:49.262 --> 00:37:52.645
but would I have had the courage and the fortitude
600
00:37:52.645 --> 00:37:54.312
to do what they did.
601
00:37:55.175 --> 00:37:56.076
602
00:37:56.076 --> 00:37:57.659
that was willing to go with him.
603
00:37:57.659 --> 00:37:58.885
They had to agree.
604
00:37:58.885 --> 00:38:03.650
Larry Colburn, they had to agree that they would do this.
605
00:38:03.650 --> 00:38:04.926
They did.
606
00:38:04.926 --> 00:38:09.446
♪ My gunners nod ♪
607
00:38:09.446 --> 00:38:12.279
♪ Larry and Glenn ♪
608
00:38:14.529 --> 00:38:17.485
(tense classical music)
609
00:38:17.485 --> 00:38:22.485
♪ They look at me and nod ♪
610
00:38:25.517 --> 00:38:30.517
♪ Incredulous ♪
611
00:38:31.142 --> 00:38:33.309
♪ Angelic ♪
612
00:38:42.846 --> 00:38:47.846
♪ Mortified ♪
613
00:38:50.369 --> 00:38:55.369
♪ We\'re caught in this ♪
614
00:38:58.494 --> 00:39:03.494
♪ How has this happened ♪
615
00:39:05.542 --> 00:39:10.542
♪ Here the world is changed, forever changed ♪
616
00:39:29.159 --> 00:39:32.326
(helicopter whirring)
617
00:39:39.029 --> 00:39:43.259
618
00:39:43.259 --> 00:39:47.176
and the 10 or 12 villagers, including children,
619
00:39:48.779 --> 00:39:51.080
and he got out again.
620
00:39:51.080 --> 00:39:54.919
He was just acting on pure instinct and a sense
621
00:39:54.919 --> 00:39:56.669
of what he had to do.
622
00:39:57.564 --> 00:40:00.825
He told the leader of that particular unit,
623
00:40:00.825 --> 00:40:03.233
hold your fire, hold your fire, you know,
624
00:40:03.233 --> 00:40:05.969
and I\'m going to try to get these people out.
625
00:40:05.969 --> 00:40:10.052
And amazingly that officer did not challenge him.
626
00:40:11.658 --> 00:40:15.703
The soldiers just stopped, watched him,
627
00:40:15.703 --> 00:40:20.238
and he got on the radio and called the gunships
628
00:40:20.238 --> 00:40:22.316
and said, you\'ve got to get down here
629
00:40:22.316 --> 00:40:24.808
and rescue these people.
630
00:40:24.808 --> 00:40:26.435
And the gunship came down.
631
00:40:26.435 --> 00:40:29.602
(helicopter whirring)
632
00:40:33.990 --> 00:40:38.573
But it\'s like maybe 12 people out of about 500 or more.
633
00:40:41.805 --> 00:40:45.138
(tense classical music)
634
00:40:54.960 --> 00:40:58.127
♪ Once more the ditch ♪
635
00:41:02.529 --> 00:41:07.313
636
00:41:07.313 --> 00:41:10.211
they stop one more time at the ditch.
637
00:41:10.211 --> 00:41:12.008
So it was really the ditch,
638
00:41:12.008 --> 00:41:14.841
this particular bunker, the ditch.
639
00:41:15.936 --> 00:41:20.936
♪ Glistening in, in, in ♪
640
00:41:23.265 --> 00:41:26.801
♪ The morning sun. ♪
641
00:41:26.801 --> 00:41:29.601
642
00:41:29.601 --> 00:41:33.934
and waded on the bodies looking for someone to save.
643
00:41:35.626 --> 00:41:40.626
♪ Walking on bodies, we fish out a little boy ♪
644
00:41:46.464 --> 00:41:51.464
♪ I hold him by his small shirt ♪
645
00:41:54.564 --> 00:41:59.564
♪ A little boy ♪
646
00:41:59.793 --> 00:42:04.793
♪ A little boy about Bucky\'s age ♪
647
00:42:07.241 --> 00:42:12.241
♪ Limp, but breathing ♪
648
00:42:12.742 --> 00:42:16.242
♪ He\'s as light as a leaf ♪
649
00:42:24.243 --> 00:42:27.076
♪ Light as a leaf ♪
650
00:42:43.254 --> 00:42:46.207
651
00:42:46.207 --> 00:42:51.207
and almost harmony and balance is when the child is plucked.
652
00:42:51.530 --> 00:42:55.697
And indeed a child was plucked out of dying people
653
00:42:56.779 --> 00:42:58.529
like a strange birth.
654
00:43:02.104 --> 00:43:04.920
655
00:43:04.920 --> 00:43:08.192
of this second landing where he\'s willing to fire
656
00:43:08.192 --> 00:43:12.318
on his own troops to try to stop this and the third landing
657
00:43:12.318 --> 00:43:16.108
where he realizes that he can\'t do anything
658
00:43:16.108 --> 00:43:18.691
other than just save one child.
659
00:43:21.804 --> 00:43:26.804
♪ I hold him in my arms ♪
660
00:43:28.251 --> 00:43:31.918
♪ I fly him out of Hell, ah ♪
661
00:43:36.016 --> 00:43:38.484
662
00:43:38.484 --> 00:43:41.685
as relevant to this which is to save one life is
663
00:43:41.685 --> 00:43:43.018
to save a world.
664
00:43:45.118 --> 00:43:47.486
And actually he was in touch with that child
665
00:43:47.486 --> 00:43:49.548
and a number of other survivors from My Lai
666
00:43:49.548 --> 00:43:51.881
towards the end of his life.
667
00:43:53.924 --> 00:43:55.134
668
00:43:55.134 --> 00:43:56.748
669
00:43:56.748 --> 00:44:00.504
(speaking in foreign language)
670
00:44:00.504 --> 00:44:02.827
671
00:44:02.827 --> 00:44:04.410
to murder and kill.
672
00:44:05.467 --> 00:44:09.099
I can\'t answer for the people who took part in it.
673
00:44:09.099 --> 00:44:12.642
I apologize for the ones who did.
674
00:44:12.642 --> 00:44:16.511
I just wish we could have helped more people that day.
675
00:44:16.511 --> 00:44:19.094
(somber music)
676
00:44:39.127 --> 00:44:41.997
677
00:44:41.997 --> 00:44:46.168
at the end of the operation the official military log was,
678
00:44:46.168 --> 00:44:47.537
\"The operation was well planned,
679
00:44:47.537 --> 00:44:49.274
\"well executed, and successful.
680
00:44:49.274 --> 00:44:50.659
\"Friendly casualties were light.
681
00:44:50.659 --> 00:44:52.087
\"Enemy suffered heavily.
682
00:44:52.087 --> 00:44:53.884
\"Infantry unit on the ground and helicopters were able
683
00:44:53.884 --> 00:44:56.363
\"to assist civilians leaving the area and caring for
684
00:44:56.363 --> 00:44:58.984
\"and or evacuating the wounded.\"
685
00:44:58.984 --> 00:45:02.484
When in fact 570 civilians at least were killed,
686
00:45:02.484 --> 00:45:05.901
most of the city was entirely demolished.
687
00:45:07.635 --> 00:45:09.940
688
00:45:09.940 --> 00:45:11.607
all governments lie.
689
00:45:13.627 --> 00:45:17.710
Our government has lied to us and is lying to us.
690
00:45:28.010 --> 00:45:31.976
691
00:45:31.976 --> 00:45:35.973
happen in every war but they rarely get reported.
692
00:45:35.973 --> 00:45:37.635
(fire crackling)
693
00:45:37.635 --> 00:45:40.771
It would have gone unreported had Hugh Thompson
694
00:45:40.771 --> 00:45:42.771
not refused to shut up.
695
00:45:45.717 --> 00:45:48.142
696
00:45:48.142 --> 00:45:52.559
to his superiors and it started a long, long process.
697
00:45:54.453 --> 00:45:57.896 line:15%
698
00:45:57.896 --> 00:46:01.878 line:15%
embedded in the town had documented all of this.
699
00:46:01.878 --> 00:46:03.999
But he was not gonna release these photographs.
700
00:46:03.999 --> 00:46:06.759
He only released his photographs because Thompson
701
00:46:06.759 --> 00:46:10.717
refused to stay silent and that led to a chain of events.
702
00:46:10.717 --> 00:46:13.924
703
00:46:13.924 --> 00:46:17.234
had gotten out too much and they couldn\'t simply
704
00:46:17.234 --> 00:46:19.317
say nothing had happened.
705
00:46:20.274 --> 00:46:21.841
706
00:46:21.841 --> 00:46:23.409
that broke the camel\'s back.
707
00:46:23.409 --> 00:46:25.445
It was like this is what we\'ve become.
708
00:46:25.445 --> 00:46:27.149
This is what we\'ve all feared
709
00:46:27.149 --> 00:46:29.789
and now we\'ve got hard evidence.
710
00:46:29.789 --> 00:46:31.260
We\'ve got the pictures.
711
00:46:31.260 --> 00:46:32.878
We\'ve got the eyewitness.
712
00:46:32.878 --> 00:46:34.792
We know what\'s happening over there.
713
00:46:34.792 --> 00:46:38.103
When people, when American soldiers are murdering
714
00:46:38.103 --> 00:46:40.686
infants it\'s, you know, really.
715
00:46:48.980 --> 00:46:50.984
716
00:46:50.984 --> 00:46:52.484
that very morning.
717
00:46:59.920 --> 00:47:02.396
718
00:47:02.396 --> 00:47:04.806
of a kind of heroism, you know.
719
00:47:04.806 --> 00:47:09.112
He lost everything in that moment, in that decision.
720
00:47:09.112 --> 00:47:12.624
721
00:47:12.624 --> 00:47:15.644
He lived many years of misery.
722
00:47:15.644 --> 00:47:20.167
723
00:47:20.167 --> 00:47:21.834
He was evil to them.
724
00:47:23.943 --> 00:47:26.537
He got death threats all his life.
725
00:47:26.537 --> 00:47:29.870
He had dead animals thrown on his porch.
726
00:47:31.115 --> 00:47:35.226
727
00:47:35.226 --> 00:47:39.309
and being ostracized by the Army, which he loved.
728
00:47:44.152 --> 00:47:45.925
729
00:47:45.925 --> 00:47:48.717
and had the hearings that\'s when Hugh
730
00:47:48.717 --> 00:47:51.649
almost got court-martialed.
731
00:47:51.649 --> 00:47:54.573
It\'s sort of like as if Hugh Thompson was at fault.
732
00:47:54.573 --> 00:47:57.823
It was totally erasing, trying to erase
733
00:48:01.483 --> 00:48:05.400
what was happening on the ground as a massacre.
734
00:48:06.737 --> 00:48:09.737
(slow, tense music)
735
00:48:19.469 --> 00:48:23.498
736
00:48:23.498 --> 00:48:26.521
from the Congressional Committee, when this guy
737
00:48:26.521 --> 00:48:28.337
is attacked by something he can\'t control
738
00:48:28.337 --> 00:48:32.763
that\'s hovering above and is antagonistic toward him.
739
00:48:32.763 --> 00:48:35.769
740
00:48:35.769 --> 00:48:39.269
(upbeat, cheerful music)
741
00:48:42.100 --> 00:48:44.933
So this is, this is from a TV show
742
00:48:46.149 --> 00:48:48.661
called Let\'s Make A Deal.
743
00:48:48.661 --> 00:48:51.478
For those of you who don\'t know it\'s this ridiculous show
744
00:48:51.478 --> 00:48:54.895
where contestants come up and they choose
745
00:48:56.138 --> 00:48:58.029
between door number one, door number two,
746
00:48:58.029 --> 00:48:59.046
and door number three.
747
00:48:59.046 --> 00:49:01.990
And they have to guess what the more valuable prize will be.
748
00:49:01.990 --> 00:49:05.381
(upbeat, dissonant music)
749
00:49:05.381 --> 00:49:09.800
And so what I\'m doing is a very twisted parody on that.
750
00:49:09.800 --> 00:49:12.588
751
00:49:12.588 --> 00:49:15.751
We have an exciting show for you this morning.
752
00:49:15.751 --> 00:49:19.785
We\'re playing with a teacher from Idaho, a nurse from Maine,
753
00:49:19.785 --> 00:49:23.138
and a Chief Warrant Officer in our Armed Forces.
754
00:49:23.138 --> 00:49:24.102
(audience applauding)
755
00:49:24.102 --> 00:49:27.045
A helicopter pilot, am I right, sir?
756
00:49:27.045 --> 00:49:28.378
All right, then.
757
00:49:29.299 --> 00:49:31.817
You know how the game is played.
758
00:49:31.817 --> 00:49:36.817
We\'ll show you three doors, a red, a white, and a blue one.
759
00:49:36.895 --> 00:49:40.089
Choose one and the game is on.
760
00:49:40.089 --> 00:49:42.616
And to honor our brave American troops,
761
00:49:42.616 --> 00:49:45.608
let\'s start with you, Officer.
762
00:49:45.608 --> 00:49:48.349
I\'m sure you\'ve had to make difficult choices
763
00:49:48.349 --> 00:49:50.469
in your line of work.
764
00:49:50.469 --> 00:49:52.444
This one should be a piece of cake!
765
00:49:52.444 --> 00:49:54.486
(audience laughing)
766
00:49:54.486 --> 00:49:57.357
So, Officer, which will it be?
767
00:49:57.357 --> 00:49:59.024
Blue, white, or red?
768
00:50:02.543 --> 00:50:04.733
Our officer seems a bit lost.
769
00:50:04.733 --> 00:50:05.649
What\'ll it be, Captain?
770
00:50:05.649 --> 00:50:07.401
(audience laughing)
771
00:50:07.401 --> 00:50:09.377
772
00:50:09.377 --> 00:50:12.344
773
00:50:12.344 --> 00:50:13.666
774
00:50:13.666 --> 00:50:16.486
775
00:50:16.486 --> 00:50:19.586
Always important to get the right rank.
776
00:50:19.586 --> 00:50:20.552
Sir, yes sir!
777
00:50:20.552 --> 00:50:22.308
(audience laughing)
778
00:50:22.308 --> 00:50:26.354
But seriously, Officer Thompson, time\'s running out.
779
00:50:26.354 --> 00:50:27.930
Make your choice!
780
00:50:27.930 --> 00:50:29.434
781
00:50:29.434 --> 00:50:30.829
782
00:50:30.829 --> 00:50:31.662
783
00:50:31.662 --> 00:50:34.279
784
00:50:34.279 --> 00:50:36.101
has chosen the red door!
785
00:50:36.101 --> 00:50:37.762
786
00:50:37.762 --> 00:50:39.725
That\'s not what I said.
787
00:50:39.725 --> 00:50:42.801
For Christ\'s sake I never chose that.
788
00:50:42.801 --> 00:50:44.337
789
00:50:44.337 --> 00:50:45.884
and see what\'s behind it.
790
00:50:45.884 --> 00:50:48.084
791
00:50:48.084 --> 00:50:49.417
792
00:50:50.733 --> 00:50:54.240
793
00:50:54.240 --> 00:50:57.073
Phil, what has the officer chosen?
794
00:50:57.948 --> 00:51:01.501
795
00:51:01.501 --> 00:51:03.842
and you can just make it out.
796
00:51:03.842 --> 00:51:05.370
(dramatic music)
797
00:51:05.370 --> 00:51:09.892
Okay, looks like a ditch full of bodies, old people,
798
00:51:09.892 --> 00:51:11.197
women and children.
799
00:51:11.197 --> 00:51:14.859
Yeah, I see it now, women and children, babies.
800
00:51:14.859 --> 00:51:17.331
All dead or about to be, Dick.
801
00:51:17.331 --> 00:51:19.310
802
00:51:19.310 --> 00:51:20.613
803
00:51:20.613 --> 00:51:22.199
804
00:51:22.199 --> 00:51:26.735
It got to the nub of it really in a funny way
805
00:51:26.735 --> 00:51:29.998
and also in a kind of visceral way.
806
00:51:29.998 --> 00:51:32.382
It was really ugly.
807
00:51:32.382 --> 00:51:33.976
I\'m not answering any more questions.
808
00:51:33.976 --> 00:51:35.440
I already, I already told you.
809
00:51:35.440 --> 00:51:37.640
I told everybody everything.
810
00:51:37.640 --> 00:51:40.837
811
00:51:40.837 --> 00:51:44.898
on the ground, what did you order your crew to do?
812
00:51:44.898 --> 00:51:47.162
You have 30 seconds.
813
00:51:47.162 --> 00:51:51.346
I observed three villagers, non-combatants, clearly,
814
00:51:51.346 --> 00:51:53.145
two of them were children.
815
00:51:53.145 --> 00:51:54.324
They were under fire.
816
00:51:54.324 --> 00:51:56.120
Our troops, Charlie Company, they were chasing them--
817
00:51:56.120 --> 00:51:57.943
(alarm buzzing)
818
00:51:57.943 --> 00:51:59.422
819
00:51:59.422 --> 00:52:00.922
So sorry, Officer.
820
00:52:01.994 --> 00:52:04.159
What did you order your crew to do?
821
00:52:04.159 --> 00:52:05.492
Blow them away.
822
00:52:05.492 --> 00:52:09.067
Blow those bastards away was the correct answer.
823
00:52:09.067 --> 00:52:10.216
824
00:52:10.216 --> 00:52:11.603
They were not soldiers.
825
00:52:11.603 --> 00:52:13.083
That is not what soldiers do.
826
00:52:13.083 --> 00:52:14.677
827
00:52:14.677 --> 00:52:16.703
828
00:52:16.703 --> 00:52:18.316
and the way that they questioned him.
829
00:52:18.316 --> 00:52:19.215
You said what?
830
00:52:19.215 --> 00:52:20.916
You said that to your gunners?
831
00:52:20.916 --> 00:52:22.297
You said turn the guns?
832
00:52:22.297 --> 00:52:23.560
Turn the guns on whom?
833
00:52:23.560 --> 00:52:26.108
On American soldiers?
834
00:52:26.108 --> 00:52:28.854
835
00:52:28.854 --> 00:52:30.564
They were trying to discredit his testimony
836
00:52:30.564 --> 00:52:32.719
by attacking him.
837
00:52:32.719 --> 00:52:36.136
And he scrupulously avoided saying things
838
00:52:37.045 --> 00:52:40.295
that would allow them that opportunity.
839
00:52:42.114 --> 00:52:44.128
840
00:52:44.128 --> 00:52:45.861
Are you ready, folks?
841
00:52:45.861 --> 00:52:47.325
Congressman Rivers.
842
00:52:47.325 --> 00:52:49.878
Members of the House Armed Services Committee.
843
00:52:49.878 --> 00:52:51.022
President Nixon.
844
00:52:51.022 --> 00:52:52.076
845
00:52:52.076 --> 00:52:53.921
846
00:52:53.921 --> 00:52:55.610
847
00:52:55.610 --> 00:52:56.675
I\'m not playing.
848
00:52:56.675 --> 00:52:58.451
I\'m out of this.
849
00:52:58.451 --> 00:53:00.567
850
00:53:00.567 --> 00:53:02.122
Can you blame the boy, though?
851
00:53:02.122 --> 00:53:03.558
Can you, folks?
852
00:53:03.558 --> 00:53:06.876
Can we blame him for jumping the gun?
853
00:53:06.876 --> 00:53:08.639
What do you say, Mr. President?
854
00:53:08.639 --> 00:53:10.511
855
00:53:10.511 --> 00:53:13.553
one of them, Calley, Medina, or any of the bastards
856
00:53:13.553 --> 00:53:14.386
who ordered this.
857
00:53:14.386 --> 00:53:15.297
You\'re not gonna do a goddamn thing!
858
00:53:15.297 --> 00:53:17.428
859
00:53:17.428 --> 00:53:20.928
(intense, dramatic music)
860
00:53:22.257 --> 00:53:25.223
861
00:53:25.223 --> 00:53:26.519
This is a game.
862
00:53:26.519 --> 00:53:30.473
This is a game these Congressmen are playing.
863
00:53:30.473 --> 00:53:34.268
Rivers and Nixon, they\'re playing a political game
864
00:53:34.268 --> 00:53:35.975
with real lives.
865
00:53:35.975 --> 00:53:38.142
I think that\'s despicable.
866
00:53:41.576 --> 00:53:43.272
And a court-martial of Hugh Thompson
867
00:53:43.272 --> 00:53:46.522
would have been a great thing for them.
868
00:53:48.044 --> 00:53:52.294
They weren\'t able to, but they certainly wanted to.
869
00:53:58.556 --> 00:54:01.139
(somber music)
870
00:54:05.757 --> 00:54:08.015
871
00:54:08.015 --> 00:54:10.578
around the My Lai massacre,
872
00:54:10.578 --> 00:54:14.633
and particularly the intervention of Thompson and his crew,
873
00:54:14.633 --> 00:54:17.476
demonstrated the absolute ugliest and worst
874
00:54:17.476 --> 00:54:21.309
and the absolute highest and best of humanity.
875
00:54:22.713 --> 00:54:27.521
People who sunk to the lowest depths of sadism and murder
876
00:54:27.521 --> 00:54:31.676
and then you have these three kids who literally saw it
877
00:54:31.676 --> 00:54:36.314
from above and descended to try and intervene.
878
00:54:36.314 --> 00:54:38.897
And they refused to let it go.
879
00:54:39.749 --> 00:54:42.332
(somber music)
880
00:54:46.779 --> 00:54:51.779
♪ Hello, yeah ♪
881
00:54:56.019 --> 00:54:59.698 line:15%
♪ I ♪
882
00:54:59.698 --> 00:55:04.698
♪ I just, I just ♪
883
00:55:08.435 --> 00:55:13.435
♪ I just wanted to talk to Larry ♪
884
00:55:17.139 --> 00:55:21.969
♪ Can I leave him a message ♪
885
00:55:21.969 --> 00:55:24.663
♪ Tell him I called ♪
886
00:55:24.663 --> 00:55:29.663
♪ Tell him Hugh called ♪
887
00:55:31.602 --> 00:55:36.602
♪ Yeah, I\'m still in the hospital ♪
888
00:55:40.672 --> 00:55:45.672
♪ No, it\'s not looking good ♪
889
00:55:47.418 --> 00:55:52.418
♪ But you know what they say ♪
890
00:55:52.482 --> 00:55:55.732
♪ Nobody lives forever ♪
891
00:56:03.960 --> 00:56:07.127 line:15%
(audience applauding)
892
00:56:30.222 --> 00:56:31.886
(chattering)
893
00:56:31.886 --> 00:56:34.721
894
00:56:34.721 --> 00:56:36.864
His sister warned him that there would be a couple
895
00:56:36.864 --> 00:56:40.534
of moments that would be excruciatingly painful to him.
896
00:56:40.534 --> 00:56:44.112
But I just wanted him to know that he was more than welcome.
897
00:56:44.112 --> 00:56:47.324
And then when we finally said he\'s coming I was, for me,
898
00:56:47.324 --> 00:56:49.539
it\'s really deeply moving.
899
00:56:49.539 --> 00:56:51.468
I\'m speechless.
900
00:56:51.468 --> 00:56:52.368
901
00:56:52.368 --> 00:56:53.473
(laughing)
902
00:56:53.473 --> 00:56:55.543
903
00:56:55.543 --> 00:56:59.266
His story is central to this all the way through.
904
00:56:59.266 --> 00:57:00.811
I\'m totally speechless.
905
00:57:00.811 --> 00:57:02.072
I am so moved.
906
00:57:02.072 --> 00:57:04.956
I was like a little kid when your name
907
00:57:04.956 --> 00:57:06.808
popped into my email box.
908
00:57:06.808 --> 00:57:08.485
I said I do not believe this.
909
00:57:08.485 --> 00:57:10.852
910
00:57:10.852 --> 00:57:11.947
because I know how busy you are.
911
00:57:11.947 --> 00:57:14.291
912
00:57:14.291 --> 00:57:16.206
Could you possibly give me a call?
913
00:57:16.206 --> 00:57:20.308
914
00:57:20.308 --> 00:57:22.252
not be forgotten.
915
00:57:22.252 --> 00:57:24.140
He mentioned that he was frustrated by the fact
916
00:57:24.140 --> 00:57:26.291
that the story is well-known beyond the borders
917
00:57:26.291 --> 00:57:29.862
of the United States, but nobody talks about it here.
918
00:57:29.862 --> 00:57:31.429
Well, God bless you and God bless what you did
919
00:57:31.429 --> 00:57:33.399
and thank you for being here.
920
00:57:33.399 --> 00:57:35.690
921
00:57:35.690 --> 00:57:37.190
I truly, truly am.
922
00:57:39.024 --> 00:57:41.393
923
00:57:41.393 --> 00:57:46.049
924
00:57:46.049 --> 00:57:48.307
And they\'ve lost friends,
925
00:57:48.307 --> 00:57:50.712
so there\'s that dirty word revenge.
926
00:57:50.712 --> 00:57:52.229
927
00:57:52.229 --> 00:57:54.803
928
00:57:54.803 --> 00:57:59.139
929
00:57:59.139 --> 00:58:03.472
(somber, dramatic classical music)
930
00:58:06.954 --> 00:58:08.355
It was dreamlike.
931
00:58:08.355 --> 00:58:13.188
It was difficult at times, but I think I need a little bit
932
00:58:15.031 --> 00:58:18.614
of time to digest it, but it was beautiful.
933
00:58:20.507 --> 00:58:23.090
And I think Hugh would approve.
934
00:58:46.624 --> 00:58:47.727
935
00:58:47.727 --> 00:58:48.967
on a daily basis.
936
00:58:48.967 --> 00:58:50.898
It\'s not like the United States is not involved
937
00:58:50.898 --> 00:58:53.648
in atrocities on multiple fronts.
938
00:58:55.074 --> 00:58:57.152
I mean, it\'s not even this distant metaphor.
939
00:58:57.152 --> 00:58:59.402
It\'s an in your face story.
940
00:59:02.606 --> 00:59:04.330
941
00:59:04.330 --> 00:59:07.247
in finding human answers to things.
942
00:59:11.047 --> 00:59:15.762
Each of us has questions that we ask ourselves.
943
00:59:15.762 --> 00:59:18.605
And every once in a while we might hear a tone or a melody
944
00:59:18.605 --> 00:59:21.188
that becomes part of an answer.
945
00:59:35.089 --> 00:59:38.453
946
00:59:38.453 --> 00:59:41.367
It\'s about a frame of mind.
947
00:59:41.367 --> 00:59:44.538
And the flexing of power without wisdom
948
00:59:44.538 --> 00:59:47.640
is a dangerous and terrible thing.
949
00:59:47.640 --> 00:59:49.914
And you\'re in danger of becoming the very thing
950
00:59:49.914 --> 00:59:52.414
that you supposedly hate most.
951
01:00:15.586 --> 01:00:17.435
952
01:00:17.435 --> 01:00:20.853
and unassuming a person who suffered miserably
953
01:00:20.853 --> 01:00:22.675
for what he did.
954
01:00:22.675 --> 01:00:26.432
And I don\'t think he was particularly proud of what he did.
955
01:00:26.432 --> 01:00:29.126
In fact there was always a sense of he didn\'t do enough
956
01:00:29.126 --> 01:00:32.765
or he, there was a sense of almost failure on his part.
957
01:00:32.765 --> 01:00:35.539
But if ever there was a human being who, for me,
958
01:00:35.539 --> 01:00:38.816
is sort of the consummate hero. it\'s Hugh Thompson.
959
01:00:38.816 --> 01:00:40.755
(dramatic music)
960
01:00:40.755 --> 01:00:44.172
♪ I always wanted to fly ♪
961
01:00:51.154 --> 01:00:54.321
(helicopter whirring)
962
01:01:23.737 --> 01:01:26.820
(somber piano music)
963
01:01:32.214 --> 01:01:37.214 line:15%
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
964
01:01:42.007 --> 01:01:47.007 line:15%
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
965
01:01:51.584 --> 01:01:55.334
♪ Oh my Lord, what a morning ♪
966
01:02:02.857 --> 01:02:06.774
♪ When the stars begin to fall ♪
967
01:02:13.188 --> 01:02:17.105 line:15%
♪ When the stars begin to fall ♪
968
01:02:25.200 --> 01:02:30.200
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
969
01:02:32.815 --> 01:02:37.815
♪ My Lord, what a morning ♪
970
01:02:40.219 --> 01:02:43.969
♪ Oh my Lord, what a morning ♪
971
01:02:54.349 --> 01:02:58.266
♪ When the stars begin to fall ♪