--- title: "Hearts and Minds: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/hearts-and-minds/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/hearts-and-minds" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Hearts and Minds (1974): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 7 reviews: 6 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics greet Peter Davis’s documentary as a furious and still relevant account of America in Vietnam. The praise clusters on the method: no narrator, just interviews and archive footage set against each other, with soldiers, villagers and members of the political elite allowed to speak for themselves. Several reviews single out the montage, and the moments where the official case for the war falters under plain questioning. Its influence on later polemical documentaries is noted more than once, usually to the older film’s advantage. The spread is moderate rather than wide, and the reservations concern rigour. Time Out finds it strong on emotion and weak on political analysis, dividing its subjects too neatly into heroes and villains, while Slant Magazine, otherwise admiring, hears it tip at times into ranting. Nobody disputes its force; the question is whether feeling does the work that argument should. ## The AV Club — Nathan Rabin Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 July 2002. The film wades headfirst into the moral and emotional morass of the Vietnam War through newsreels, clips, and interviews. It bears wrenching witness to the terrible cost of war on both sides and puts a human face on the tragedy. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/hearts-minds-1798197672) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 November 2005. The critic calls Peter Davis's re-released 1974 documentary remarkable and a stunning insight into the disillusion of the Vietnam era. He praises the mix of interviews and eyewitness footage, highlighting exquisitely turned moments such as Walt Rostow's reluctance to argue the war's case. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2005/nov/11/6) ## The Times — James Christopher Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 November 2005. The critic hails the re-released film as one of the most powerful anti-war documentaries, a blistering account of America's Vietnam involvement with no narrator but raw interviews and footage of soldiers and peasants. He notes its inescapable parallels with the Iraq war and praises its political daring in winning an Oscar. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/hearts-and-minds-hwltv2dm9kk) ## Empire — Colin Kennedy Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The re-issue of this 1974 Oscar-winning documentary remains relevant amid contemporary conflicts, highlighting its influence on later filmmakers like Michael Moore through its collage of testimonies and archive footage without a controlling voiceover. The most indelible elements are the portrayals of ordinary soldiers and villagers alongside haunting images of destruction. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hearts-minds-review/) ## Slant Magazine — Jeremiah Kipp Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 19 March 2009. The incendiary agitprop regards Vietnam as a story of murder, humiliation, xenophobia, cultural brainwashing, and unjustified warmongering. It opens up the psychic wound of a country through powerful human faces and footage, though sometimes veers into unsubtle ranting. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/hearts-and-minds/) ## Time Out — RM Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic finds the Oscar-winning documentary effective at eliciting emotion through interviews and archival footage but criticizes its emphasis on psychological remorse over rigorous political analysis, leading to overly simplistic hero-villain portrayals. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hearts-and-minds) ## Eye for Film — Anton Bitel Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 29 November 2005. The critic praises the film as a serious, substantial documentary superior in style to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, which it influenced. Davis's masterful use of montage and respectful handling of interviewees from the political elite and ex-soldiers is singled out for delivering a devastating, persuasive critique. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/hearts-and-minds-film-review-by-anton-bitel) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/hearts-and-minds.md