Tripwire!: A Worthy Vietnam Veterans Documentary
Lea Jones and Marc Waszkiewicz have combined their many artistic talents to produce a unique Vietnam War veteran documentary called Tripwire!.
The film follows a formula used in nearly every other all-encompassing documentary about Vietnam veterans: a group of vets acts as talking heads guiding the viewer through a chronological narrative of their tours of duty and what happened after they came home. These documentaries are filled with in-country pics and some war-time documentary footage, along with photos and video of the men paying their respects at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
What puts Tripwire in a category by itself, however, is that nearly all of the photos and war-time movies come from the lenses of Waszkiewicz, who spent a good deal of his three Marine Corps tours of duty documenting just about everything that took place around him. Those images illuminate many facets of his tours of duty–and what happened after Waszkiewicz (and countless other veterans) came home from the war.
The other thing that stands out is the music, original tunes by Waszkiewicz and long-time singer/songwriter Lea Jones. Every Vietnam War veteran should empathize with the words (and music) that evoke everything from arriving in country to going life in the file, R&R, and coming home.
This worthy doc is part of a larger project Jones and Waszkiewicz call “Vietnam Inner View,” which includes an excellent book of Waszkiewicz’s photos. Tripwire has been making its way through the film festival circuit for a few years. Here’s hoping it finds the wider audience it deserves. For more info, go to vietnaminnerview.com
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