>Starz Denver International Film Festival: A Best-Kept Secret No Longer

Mark Rabinowitz (November 22, 2005)

Another strong doc was David Zeiger's "Sir! No Sir!," a compelling new look at the GI Movement, the concerted effort by active duty soldiers and sailors to protest the Vietnam War. An important and largely forgotten element of the war in Vietnam, the GI Movement resulted in many active duty servicemen and women being tried and convicted of mutiny among other offenses, simply for opposing a war now considered by many to have been both unjust as well as extremely poorly planned and executed. One key note in the film was the first examination that I have seen of the idea that returning soldiers were spit on and called "baby killers" by peace activists in the US. A few of these stories are dissected and found to be fictions, ones likely drawn up by those trying to discredit the anti-war movement.

While the film is a little loose in terms of structure and could use another pass through the editing room, it is an important document and another chapter in the history of this war that is taking on even more importance in light of the current slide in popularity of the War in Iraq.