Basic Training

In the summer of 1970, once public opinion had turned against the American presence in Vietnam, Frederick Wiseman followed a group of recruits during their nine-week basic training at Fort Knox. "The U.S. Army is undefeatable," declares a confident commandant. But in this documentary, Wiseman reveals that the entire army system is in crisis. The sensitive nature of the situation becomes apparent when a recruit asks if someone was ever killed with the rifle that he is being issued. Every self-willed sound gets stifled with a dictatorial "Just do as you're told." We see young men crawling, marching, fighting, encountering teargas, and creeping through a replica of a Vietnamese village, but Wiseman shows us a lesson in brushing teeth as well. Just as funny is the scene in which a bespectacled recruit named Hickman competes with the likes of Charlie Chaplin in his vain attempts to get the hang of the marching beat. The humor grows nasty after Hickman attempts suicide and cannot get forgiveness from the chaplain, and it becomes increasingly clear that this boy is a tragic metaphor for a system in which there is no room for individuals.