'You know I'd catch the next train, back to where I live.'

Tom Fogerty (1941-1990)

'Dear America - 1/10

There have been many films and television programmes made about the American war in Vietnam. Bill Couturie's wonderful 1987 docu-pic, 'Dear America,' differs from the majority of these in the unsensational way it depicts the vestiges of ordinary lives in extraordinary situations. There is a heightened poignancy in allaying the narration; much of it by famous actors and celebrities, with stock images, popular music and archive footage, creating a world that is familiar, yet wholly, and horribly, unrecognisable. Unavailable in the UK for many years, Couturie's, at times unsentimental portrayal of an America at seemingly insurmountable odds with itself, is available to view at the above and subsequent links.