My Lai: American Experience

Season 22, Episode 1 of 1

What drove a company of American soldiers --ordinary young men from around the country deployed to liberate a small foreign nation from an oppressive neighbor -- to dehumanize and murder more than 300 unarmed civilians? Were they "just following orders" as some later declared? Or, as others argued, did they break under the pressure of a misguided military strategy that measured victory by body count? Today, as the United States once again finds itself questioning the morality of actions taken in the name of war, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Barak Goodman (The Lobotomist, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy) focuses his lens on the 1968 My Lai Massacre, its subsequent cover-up, and the heroic efforts of the soldiers who broke rank to halt the atrocities. This film draws upon the eyewitness accounts of Vietnamese survivors and the men of the Charlie Company 11th Infantry Brigade and recently discovered audio recordings.

Previously Aired

Day
Time
Channel
4/21/2015
9 p.m.
4/22/2015
2 a.m.
4/23/2015
2 p.m.
4/24/2015
4 a.m.
4/27/2015
2 p.m.
4/29/2015
4 a.m.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona