Documentary Filmmaker Speaks Out Against Iraq War Is Choate’s First “Educator in Residence”
By Annabel Clarance ‘08
News Reporter
On Monday, January 8th, 2007 filmmaker Robbie Leppzer kicked off his four-day visit to Choate Rosemary Hall as the school’s first Educator in Residence. The documentarian spent Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with history and digital video classes. In addition, Leppzer was the guest speaker at the required programs Monday and Tuesday nights.
The program on Monday, required for all U.S. History students, consisted of a presentation of one of Leppzer’s films entitled “Vietnam Stories,” followed by a question and answer session. In Reverend Trister’s introduction, he encouraged the audience to “think of this video in terms of the war with Iraq.” Leppzer himself said he was “struck by how much [The Vietnam War] is like the current situation in Iraq.”
The documentary was an oral history of the Vietnam War as told by five Vietnam veterans and two draft resisters. Produced in collaboration with eleventh graders at Pioneer Valley Regional High School, “Vietnam Stories” features high school students as interviewers and filmmakers, with Leppzer coordinating and editing the final film. “The Eastern World, it is exploding. Not old enough to vote, but old enough for killing,” were lyrics that accompanied the opening still pictures of the Vietnam War.
“Vietnam Stories” relayed the story of the Vietnam War on a personal level through memories of veterans who clearly regretted their involvement. One veteran spoke of having the “John Wayne Syndrome” before he was sent to Vietnam. The film had a balance of serious and entertaining moments, but left the audience with at least a little knowledge of the real dangers of war.
After the conclusion of the documentary the discussion quickly turned to the Iraq War. Leppzer, admitting he was adamantly against the war, made it clear that he thought it was the peace movement that ended the Vietnam War. To support his protest to the Iraq War, Leppzer noted that 3,000 U.S. troops have already died, and 20,000 have been wounded.
In addition, Leppzer acknowledged the poor coverage of the peace movement in the today’s media. He told the audience that he took part in a 300,000 person protest against the Iraq War in New York City and it was reported as back page news; however, the next day when 60,000 people protested for relief of genocide in Darfur in Washington, D.C., it was front page news.
Many Choate students seem disgruntled by the one sided view Leppzer, and the Choate Administration, provided. As Jacob Didden ’08 said, “I would just like to hear someone speak for the war, whether I agree with it or not.” Leppzer made clear that, in his own opinion, the media today speaks for the war.
“In order to look at the issue of war, it is best to start with the people who have directly experienced it,” Leppzer told The News. In showing “Vietnam Stories,” he hoped to spark discussion on campus. As Leppzer pointed, the only real difference between Vietnam and Iraq is the draft and the peace movement was so large because almost everyone was affected by the war.
In history classes throughout the week, Leppzer showed a short documentary on the same topic called “Straight Talk,” a chronicle of a chapter of the Veterans for Education Project and their efforts to un-romanticize war. Leppzer himself produced this documentary, and, although it focused on similar topics, it varied in style from “Vietnam Stories.” This shorter film focused more on the veterans’ desire to share their opinions about war.
