A new, controversial and shocking documentary about the Vietnam War is throwing the viewer into the harsh reality of war and how awful it is for all parties. “The Vietnam War” is available on PBS, and was created by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

The idea of this TV series is to show people how awful the Vietnam War was, and to give people information on how and why the war started.

Footage from the actual Vietnam War is shown, and interviews from government representatives, fighters from all parties and citizens who knew or were affected by the war.

I have to applaud Ken Burns for how honest and informative this documentary was, and the great interviews from people that were affected by the war. Because of the length of the episodes being two hours, it is hard to find time to finish a whole one at a time.

This series showed me a nation devastated and divided by a war nobody wanted. I also learned how hard it is for veterans to come back and live life after war.

People interested in learning more about the Vietnam War, the people affected and how awful war is, will be interested in this documentary. I wouldn’t recommend this to people who are sensitive to seeing images and footage of the war, which sometimes includes death and bodies. The MPAA rating is TV-MA.

I think this is a good informative documentary that shows the horrors and atrocities of war, and how difficult coming back to society is.

I  would give this series a 4 out of 5 for how unbiased and informative this documentary is, and the diverse group of people they had interviews with.

Aleks Brooks is a freshman at WLHS and part of West Linn High journalism. He loves to play soccer, hang out with friends and travel in his free time.