The Last Ghost of War - a film about WV and the world
Update - I was unable to attend the WV premiere but Rev. Jim Lewis told me that all went well. About 60 attended including local workers from the Nitro plant and there was a fine discussion. Thanks for everyone involved including the staff at the SC Convention Center, WV Patriots for Peace, the NY filmmakers, and others for making this a successfull program with such short notice.
Janet Gardner and her colleague Susan Hammond, director of the War Legacies Project, mailed me a copy of Gardner’s new film, “The Last Ghost of War.” I saw the pictures on her website of the armless children of Viet Nam, but fortunately, the film was much more than a horror/freak show. It powerfully showed that the Viet Nam War (my friend Sandy Berman just convinced the Library of Congress to call it a “war” after using the term “conflict” for 30 years) is not over for lots and lots of people, both Vietnamese and American. It shows the Nitro plant that blew up in the 1950s while making Agent Orange, affecting hundreds of people right here in our own back yard. Hopefully lots of local retired chemical workers will come to see the film. (New WV Patriots for Peace webinfo.)
During the Viet Nam war, I was always very concerned about the millions of poor peasants on both sides of the conflict that died and were injured. Just like our current wars, we were killing people to save them. This film about the effects of Agent Orange on our own soldiers, Vietnamese soldiers, American civilians who were damaged by the production, shipment, etc. of Agent Orange, and of course, the long-term effects of the chemical on the people of Viet Nam are shown and tears cannot help but flow from your eyes. The hell of war cannot be forgotten.
I was glad to see the trail of presidential orders that were signed by Kennedy and Johnson, absolutely deliberately ordering that “chemical warfare” be used in Vietnam. No one can deny where the buck stopped.
I had to recall Erroll Morris’ recent masterpiece, “The Fog of War,” since it too showed the rationalizations of Robert McNamara.
I told both Janet and Susan that I have a particular interest in “Asian-Appalachian” because of the many films that have been released on another tragedy that links where I live with Asia - the Bhopal Disaster. I explained to Janet that ever since Pearl Buck left WV with her missionary parents, moving to China, there has been a strong link between the two worlds that seem so different. Maya Lin’s design of the Viet Nam Memorial itself is based on the low profile of the Appalachian mountains. Right now the Brooke County Public Library is building a world-class archive for WWII vets who served in the Pacific Conflict.
Since “Ghost” also deals with lawsuits against the U.S. government by various groups claiming long-term damage, I had to recall another film, ”Litigating Disaster,” a new film about the people of Bhopal finally getting their court case accepted in a U.S. jurisdiction. A key event was filmed for a Granada Television documentary on Bhopal right in my office in the Cultural Center, showing how different the computerized controls in Institute, WV were from the hand controls in Bhopal. This very scene is found in “Litigating Disaster.” ( As far as I know, no one has ever shown that film in WV. I was given a copy by the distributor.)
As a person who has been involved in showing films about the Coal Mine Wars of Appalachia for 30 years, I know that conflict is absolutely necessary. Lawyers are also absolutely necessary since mankind finally sees the horrendous effects of other forms of conflict management. With global warming, the oil crisis, etc. we can all see that the time is now to face our past so that we can make a better future.
Hopefully when “Ghost” is shown on April 18th, 7 PM, at The La Belle Theater in South Charleston, everyone present will learn that what suffering they endured, and the people of Vietnam have endured, will not be forgotten.
