The War at Home


Poster image The War at Home

_The War at Home_ examines the anti-war movement in Madison, Wisconsin, during the Vietnam War era. It focuses on the escalation of protests, especially at the University of Wisconsin, and the intense clashes between students and authorities. The film combines interviews with activists, veterans, and community leaders with archival footage to portray a decade of resistance and the war’s impact on the local community.



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This film is an exceptional archival document — a small manifesto of peaceful resistance, a lesson in radical democracy, and a testament to hope and solidarity across generations. The various people who speak to the camera seem to send us a message from the past: you are not alone; the history of resistance to war and imperialism is rich with the accumulated experiences of those moved by the same deep values of pacifism and justice.

Made shortly after the end of the Vietnam War, emotions were still running high and the ashes of insurrection still smoldering. The present moment echoes, almost anachronistically, the reality depicted in the film: the overwhelming power of propaganda, economic and financial interests concealed behind moral principles, the contemptuous paternalism of the powerful towards the will of the people, the violence of the state unleashed whenever true democracy tries to speak — reaffirming, time and again, the omnipotence of capitalism in our so-called “democratic” systems.

But what feels essential to hold on to today, while watching the gripping chronicle of a protest movement that set the United States ablaze and left a lasting mark on contemporary history, is this conviction: that active protest is necessary. We have a duty to fight in order to preserve a radical vision of democracy — a true sharing of power and resources in the public interest. The new configurations of the global order, now openly oligarchic, predatory, and criminal, dividing up the world to better destroy it, are now visible and unapologetic. Yet the power of the people remains the same, despite war technologies and dystopian surveillance systems. We must remind ourselves of this constantly, and that is precisely what these messages from our human comrades of the past are for.


 

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director


  • Français

    Français

    1h40

    Language: Français
    Subtitles: Français
  • English

    English

    1h40

    Language: English
    Subtitles: English
  • Année 1979
  • Pays United States
  • Durée 100
  • Producteur Catalyst Media Productions, Wisconsin Educational Television Network
  • Langue English
  • Sous-titres English, French
  • Résumé court The story of the impact of the war in Vietnam on one American town, using the Midwestern city of Madison as a microcosm for the 1960s Antiwar Movement.
  • Ordre 2
  • Capsule film <p>Watch an <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/28/the_war_at_home_1979_film" target="_blank"><span style="color:#008080;"><strong><u>interview with co-director Glenn Silber</u></strong></span></a>.</p>

This film is an exceptional archival document — a small manifesto of peaceful resistance, a lesson in radical democracy, and a testament to hope and solidarity across generations. The various people who speak to the camera seem to send us a message from the past: you are not alone; the history of resistance to war and imperialism is rich with the accumulated experiences of those moved by the same deep values of pacifism and justice.

Made shortly after the end of the Vietnam War, emotions were still running high and the ashes of insurrection still smoldering. The present moment echoes, almost anachronistically, the reality depicted in the film: the overwhelming power of propaganda, economic and financial interests concealed behind moral principles, the contemptuous paternalism of the powerful towards the will of the people, the violence of the state unleashed whenever true democracy tries to speak — reaffirming, time and again, the omnipotence of capitalism in our so-called “democratic” systems.

But what feels essential to hold on to today, while watching the gripping chronicle of a protest movement that set the United States ablaze and left a lasting mark on contemporary history, is this conviction: that active protest is necessary. We have a duty to fight in order to preserve a radical vision of democracy — a true sharing of power and resources in the public interest. The new configurations of the global order, now openly oligarchic, predatory, and criminal, dividing up the world to better destroy it, are now visible and unapologetic. Yet the power of the people remains the same, despite war technologies and dystopian surveillance systems. We must remind ourselves of this constantly, and that is precisely what these messages from our human comrades of the past are for.


 

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director


  • Français

    Français


    Duration: 1h40
    Language: Français
    Subtitles: Français
    1h40
  • English

    English


    Duration: 1h40
    Language: English
    Subtitles: English
    1h40
  • Année 1979
  • Pays United States
  • Durée 100
  • Producteur Catalyst Media Productions, Wisconsin Educational Television Network
  • Langue English
  • Sous-titres English, French
  • Résumé court The story of the impact of the war in Vietnam on one American town, using the Midwestern city of Madison as a microcosm for the 1960s Antiwar Movement.
  • Ordre 2
  • Capsule film <p>Watch an <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/28/the_war_at_home_1979_film" target="_blank"><span style="color:#008080;"><strong><u>interview with co-director Glenn Silber</u></strong></span></a>.</p>

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