Befreit die Armee (1972)

Befreit die Armee: Directed by Francine Parker. With Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Pamela Donegan, Len Chandler. A documentary about a political troupe headed by actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland which traveled to towns near military bases in the US in the early 1970s. The group put on shows called “F.T.A.

“In 1971,a troop of anti Vietnam war protesters,led by Jane Fonda u0026amp; Donald Sutherland toured with an anti war review that they called u0026#39;F.T.A.u0026#39;,which could either mean free the Army (or even f**k the Army,depending). They traveled to military bases within the Pacific Rim,where they were welcomed by a then,rising tide of anti war activists in the Military. Hours of footage was filmed u0026amp; assembled into the documentary film that was briefly released in 1972 as u0026#39;F.T.A.u0026#39;. The week that the film was released by American International Films,Fonda made a controversial trip to South East Asia, and after one scant week,the film was pulled from distribution u0026amp; was never heard from,again (rumour has it that the Nixon Administration had a lot to do with the film being yanked). Besides the afore mentioned Jane Fonda u0026amp; Donald Sutherland (who just barely two years earlier acted in the penultimate anti war film,Robert Altmanu0026#39;s u0026#39;M*A*S*Hu0026#39;),the performances also included the likes of folk singer,Holly Near,and even Peter Boyle (an unknown at the time who would gain fame a couple of years later in Mel Brooksu0026#39;u0026#39;Young Frankensteinu0026#39;). Besides the performance footage,we are also treated to interviews with members of the military who had their wits end of the senseless violence u0026amp; destruction that was the American intervention in South East Asia,which in addition to Vietnam,also included Cambodia (some of the enlisted men would end up in the documentary film, u0026#39;Winter Soldiersu0026#39;). All was not always rosy. We get to see a performance of F.T.A. being disrupted by a couple of pro war,right wing soldiers,voicing their disfavour of the whole production (they were peacefully shown the way out). Womenu0026#39;s rights advocate,Francine Parker directs the film (she only directed one other project:an episode of u0026#39;Cagney u0026amp; Laceyu0026#39;). At times, the filmu0026#39;s pacing starts to slack a bit,but doesnu0026#39;t manage to lessen the filmu0026#39;s message at all. Well worth checking out if youu0026#39;re an advocate for peace,anti war activist,historical buff,or fancier of the documentary genre. Spoken (mostly)in English,and Okenowian,Tagalog u0026amp; Japanese with English subtitles. Rated u0026#39;Ru0026#39; by the MPAA,this film has some outbursts of strong language u0026amp; some disturbing images that the troupe got to see while visiting the Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial sites,while on tour in Japan”