Nearly three decades after its resolution, the Vietnam War continues to exert a strong hold over the American psyche. The controversial winner of the 1975 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary, Hearts & Minds wades headfirst into the war's swampy moral and emotional morass. Shot in the U.S. and Vietnam, the film explores the psychological damage on both sides through newsreels, film clips, and interviews with figures ranging from a Vietnam peasant surveying the wreckage of his home to alpha-hawk Gen. William Westmoreland, who waxes racist on the weaknesses of the "Oriental" character. Heavily influenced by cinéma vérité, Minds eschews traditional narration, instead documenting the myriad complexities of warring societies through the stories and commentary of foot-soldiers, leaders, and victims. Minds reserves its most damning criticism for the politicians and generals who directed the war from a comfortable distance, but it expands its critique to include America's near-pathological obsession with winning at all costs. Criticized at the time for what some perceived as its anti-American slant, television veteran Peter Davis' film veers close to propaganda, most notably by linking military imperialism with the jingoistic aggression of high-school football. During his clumsiest moments, Davis' fondness for provocation rises to the surface, which is unfortunate, since it weakens the impact of his many salient points about how American men are socialized to be warriors. At its best, Hearts & Minds bears wrenching witness to the terrible cost of war, from permanently traumatized soldiers to the communities and families it destroys. One of the definitive anti-war documentaries, Davis' film puts a human face on an American and Vietnamese tragedy. This new DVD version includes a booklet of informative essays and an invaluable audio commentary, featuring Davis ironically railing against the use of narration in documentaries while providing his own. He also defends himself from the inevitable charges of anti-Americanism, although the film makes it clear that his sympathies lie with humanity, not any specific nation or ideology.