Directed by Koji Masutani
A filmic examination of "virtual history." What would Kennedy have done in Vietnam if he had lived and been re-elected in 1964?
At the heart of Virtual JFK is the critical question: Does it matter who is President of the United States when it comes to issues of war and peace? It explores this question by investigating one of the most debated "what if" scenarios in the history of U.S. foreign policy: What would President John F. Kennedy have done in Vietnam if he had not been assassinated in 1963, and had he been re-elected in 1964? The film employs what Harvard historian Niall Ferguson calls "virtual history," assessing the plausibility of counterfactuals -- "what ifs" -- and the outcomes they might have produced.
Drawing on unusual archival footage from presidential libraries and the National Archives, along with newly deciphered audio tapes and other documentary evidence, the film draws our attention to six highly charged crises Kennedy faced in which many, or most, of his advisers counseled war: The Bay of Pigs, The Laos Crisis, the Berlin Crisis, the Showdown over Vietnam, The Cuban Missile Crisis, The Withdrawal from Vietnam.
Award
~ Special Jury Prize, Best International Documentary Feature, Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival, Toronto
|