Events for 05/08/2010

May
8
A Special Screening of "The Good Soldier," the documentary film featuring Veteran Will Williams

Past - Saturday, May 08 2010 from 2 to 4 pm
Orpheum Theater, 216 State Street, Madison, WI
Sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Clarence Kailin Branch-Madison; Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice (WNPJ); Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)-Wisconsin; & Madison Area Peace Coalition (MAPC).
Allen, 608-255-0240; alruff@tds.net
     
 
Directed by award winning filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys, "The
Good Soldier" follows the journeys of five combat veterans from
different generations of US wars as they sign up, go into battle, and
eventually change their minds about what it means to be a good soldier.
One of those featured is Madison's irrepressible Veteran for Peace, Will Williams. Williams will introduce the
film.

"It's hard to imagine watching a more affecting movie than "The Good
Soldier" ... because it may be as affecting a movie as I've ever seen.
It took one seemingly simple question---What makes a good soldier?---and
reduced the answer to its essence. That being, the ability to kill other
human beings. Using the voices of veterans from WWII, Vietnam, the Gulf
War, and Iraq, each gave this exact same answer, and they all spoke not
only of their guilt and regret, but also of how at some point during
their time in the military they needed to kill. Their reasons were
different, but the training that gave them the skills and permission was
not. I found it both hard to watch and hard to turn away from, and I
know I'll never look at the words 'collateral damage' in the same way
again. Really powerful stuff." - Jason Albert, the Onion

"...a wonderful film...with great emotional power. It was a brilliant
idea to hear veterans of the various wars -- World War II, Vietnam, the
first Gulf War, the Iraq War -- because the net effect is to deal, not
just with one odious war, but with the phenomenon of war as a universal
evil. It is especially important, if we are to ditch forever the idea of
'good' wars, to tackle head on the war which is generally considered
morally unassailable -- World War II." - Howard Zinn, author of A
People's History of the United States.