The Vietnam War. Social and Political Issues of an Anti-Communist War
The Vietnam War. Social and Political Issues of an Anti-Communist War

Summary/Abstract: Objectives. This article presents an issue of the War of Vietnam (1955-1975), an anticommunist war. A crisis of veterans' social misconduct and rise in drug use in and after the War had started and was speculated by Soviets, using the movies about this war. The Vietnam War was not a typical one. It was a war of attrition, in which guerrilla fighting with line fighting and fighting in very difficult conditions (jungle) were combined. Material and methods. The films investigated were "Taxi Driver" (1976), "Homecoming" (1978), "The Deer Hunter" (1979), "Platoon" (1986) "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), "Casualties of War" (1989), "Dead Presidents" (1995), "We Were Soldiers" (2001). Results. There was a connection between the post-traumatic shock, drugs use, war violence and veterans' social reinsertion after the war. The analyzed movies about veterans had strong psychological charge and they have translated on the screen their psychological and social drama of reinsertion, the tragedy of this war, considered to be one of weariness, even psychological. Conclusions. The Vietnam syndrome was considered a complex of factors that made it difficult for Vietnam fighters to integrate into American society. The wounds were multiple, the danger imminent and the nervous overload of the fighters was permanent. All these issues were present on the American cinema movies. This Vietnam syndrome was also called post-traumatic shock. Drug abuse was used to relieve the pain of dealing with nightmares, insomnia, physical, and mental pain. Also, drugs were used to relieve the stress of unemployment. It was an unsuccessful use that created a lot of drama and loosed destinies.

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