What if Abraham Lincoln had not responded to the firing on Fort Sumter and turned a blind eye to Southern slavery? What if President Franklin D. Roosevelt had shrugged off the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and acceded to Axis plans for a new world order?

It's aggravating to have to say this, but in an era of feel-good, bumper sticker slogans the obvious must be repeated: Wars are sometimes necessary. No, they are never desirable, nor are they ever to be seen as wonderful adventures that turn boys into men. They are always horrific and always result in untold tragedies.

But when a war must be fought, service becomes a duty, and the men and women who answer the call deserve our eternal respect.

A new four-hour documentary on DVD titled "For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots" (Vivendi Entertainment, $19.93) amounts to a long-overdue muster of respect for the African-Americans who rallied to the cause throughout our country's history. The fact that, in most cases, these soldiers were denied the full protections of our Constitution casts their sacrifices in a uniquely selfless light.

"Throughout the film we look at why, despite rampant injustice, heroic black men and women fought so valiantly for freedoms they themselves did not enjoy," filmmaker Frank Martin wrote.

One unexpected insight: Perhaps because they were denied the privileges of citizenship for so long, blacks often had a keener appreciation for the ideals of the Founding Fathers. "Those whose liberty cost nothing," observes one writer, "do not know how to prize it."

Martin revisits the main points of conflict and sprinkles his telling with unheard examples of the specific human costs behind the price of liberty. A Hollywood "who's who" of acting talent joins in reading everything from the "slave narratives" and diaries of free blacks caught in the American revolution to the letters of "Buffalo soldiers," World War I "doughboys" and Gulf War vets.

Arriving in stores Feb. 9, the two-DVD release amounts to a welcome refresher course in basic American history. It's punctuated by amazing archival photographs and recently discovered film footage, all set to the stirring choral arrangements of Andrae Crouch.

"For the Love of Liberty" will also be shown in two parts on public television stations during Black History Month. However you catch it, and whatever your racial make-up, it's sure to inspire a good deal of old-fashioned American pride. The film's Web site is www.forloveofliberty.org.

A not-so 'Good Soldier'

Making no airs about being anything other than anti-war propaganda, on the other hand, is another new documentary showing on PBS this month titled "The Good Soldier" (Artistic License Films, unrated, $24.95). It takes the naive view that war is a matter of choice and soldiers therefore deserve blame for encouraging it.

It's easier to make that case if you ignore the historical roots of any given conflict -- or assume that the outcome of not having fought a given war would have been easier to live with.

Filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys interview five combat vets from different generations and examine the personal toll that war has had on them and other victims. They never consider the historical context of those wars. It's like looking at the worst side effects of chemotherapy without mentioning the cancer it was employed to defeat.

We meet a haunted World War II GI, a Vietnam staff sergeant and chief warrant officer, a Gulf War commander and an Iraq War staff sergeant, all of whom say their lives were changed for the worse by fighting for America.

The theme might have gained some traction had the filmmakers included a few foreign soldiers in their mix. After helping to pull Europe's fanny out of two world wars and striking costly blows for democracy around the globe, Americans have every right to take offense at being portrayed as warmongering aggressors.

To my mind, this documentary goes beyond simple stupidity to something invidious: Who exactly is behind this attempt to tell America to lay down its arms because freedom is not worth defending? "The Good Soldier" is available on NeoFlix (www.neoflix.com) and is being promoted through a program of college and high school screenings nationwide. Stay alert.

Three more views of war

•"Into the Storm: Churchill at War" (HBO Films, rated TV-PG, $26.98). The Emmy Award-winning producer of "John Adams" covers himself in glory again with this well-produced BBC follow-up to his biopic of Winston Churchill. Playwright Hugh Whitemore focuses on Churchill's World War II leadership, from Dunkirk to D-Day, and on the toll it took on his marriage and subsequent career. It's the first film to deal with the politics of his being voted out of office immediately after the war for opposing England's transformation into a social welfare state. Brendan Gleeson is only passable as Winston, getting the cadences and posture right but not really projecting the spunk and determination of the wartime leader.

•"The Green Berets" (Warner Home Video, rated G, Blu-ray Disc $28.95). Not even John Wayne could salvage this poorly written, under-budgeted stab at influencing hearts and minds, circa 1968. When it was released, America was having fatal "buyers' remorse" about the war in Vietnam, and no one wanted to see it through the Duke's heroic lens. Looking back at it now in high-definition reveals Wayne's weakest film since "The Conqueror." What made him think the forests and marshes of Georgia could double for Southeast Asia? If anything, the increased resolution of the disappointing Blu-ray transfer make it all look like a squeeky-clean Disneyland ride requiring just a C coupon. The "G" rating here says it all: War is not meant to be a family spectator sport.

•"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment, rated R, $26.95). Quoting from my blog at www.explorehoward.com/blog/ArtForm: "It took a female director, Kathryn Bigelow, working outside the studio system to get inside soldier culture in Iraq and grant our front-line troops the respect they deserve. ... It throws us together with some bomb disposal specialists in Baghdad in 2004 as they are joined by a new arrival whose techniques are just as improvisational as the explosive devices he is there to disarm." The movie's sense of immediacy and suspense made it my pick for best film of 2009. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray Disc ($34.95) also contain a filmmaker commentary, image gallery and a "making of" featurette.

Also new on DVD

"The Boys Are Back" (Miramax Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, DVD $29.95). The director of "Shine" returns with a look at a more subtle form of handicap -- being raised by a pinhead for a dad. Clive Owen stars as Australia's most irresponsible father in this downer of a drama about a widowed sports journalist who turns his young son's home life to chaos. The filmmakers seem to think he's adorable, but other parents won't.

"Bright Star" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG, $27.96). Jane Campion directed this low-key drama about the unfulfilled promise of poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his literary courtship of Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Handsome period art design helps finesse its many static scenes.

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user comments (1)

user buffalosoldier9 says...

Keep telling that history: Read the novel, Rescue at Pine Ridge, "RaPR", a great story of black military history...the first generation of Buffalo Soldiers. How do you keep a people down? ‘Never' let them 'know' their history. The 7th Cavalry got their butts in a sling again after the Little Big Horn Massacre, fourteen years later, the day after the Wounded Knee Massacre. If it wasn't for the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, there would of been a second massacre of the 7th Cavalry. Read the novel, “Rescue at Pine Ridge”, 5 stars Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the youtube trailer commercial...and visit the website http://www.rescueatpineridge.com I hope you’ll enjoy the novel. I wrote it from my mini-series movie of the same title, “RaPR” to keep my story alive. Hollywood has had a lot of strikes and doesn't like telling our stories...its been “his-story” of history all along…until now. The movie so far has attached, Bill Duke directing, Hill Harper, Glynn Turman and a host of other major actors in which we are in talks with…see imdb.com at; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925633/ When you get a chance, also please visit our Alpha Wolf Production website at; http://www.alphawolfprods.com and see our other productions, like Stagecoach Mary, the first Black Woman to deliver mail for Wells Fargo in Montana, in the 1890's, “spread the word”. Peace.

Posted 11:56 AM, 01.28.10

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