Winter Soldier (film)
Winter Soldier (film)
Winter Soldier is a 1972 American documentary about the Winter Soldier Investigation in Detroit, held from January 31 to February 2, 1971. The film features testimony from American soldiers who served in Vietnam and spoke about war crimes they witnessed or were involved in.
Produced by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War through the Winterfilm Collective, the film presents accounts of killings of civilians (including children), mutilations, the burning of villages, and throwing prisoners from helicopters. Some witnesses say such acts came from orders from higher-ranking officers, while others say their training didn’t cover the Geneva Conventions. One veteran, Joseph Bangert, describes a convoy where soldiers fired on Vietnamese children.
The documentary uses mostly black-and-white footage, with some color clips and photographs to support the testimony. It runs 96 minutes and is in English.
When it first appeared in 1972, Winter Soldier was met with skepticism and little mainstream attention; major TV networks declined to air it, and it circulated mainly in art-house cinemas. In 2005 it was re-released to more favorable reviews. The Washington Post praised it as a powerful, important historical document and strong filmmaking. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 100% approval rating from 21 critics.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:58 (CET).