Wartime documentaries are nothing new. Since television began nearly every conflict has been discussed, filmed, and commercialized to the point that much of society glazes over when they are presented with one. It takes a certain kind of history buff to be interested in seeing decade old footage set to a narrative that most of the time will put you to sleep. Depending on the subject matter and how it's presented a documentary can draw in the audience and entertain as it informs. For the most part Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicle 1945 - 1975 is that documentary.

I'm sure the fact that this documentary is all about the Vietnam War will probably elicit groans from many of you. Even though three decades have passed this era is still one of the most talked about and serialized conflicts out there (second only to World War II). Because of this everything in this documentary will feel familiar to the point that it could be considered a fault. Ironically that has nothing to do with this release at all (for the most part) and is really just attributed to the source material.

This three disc set by Koch Vision is presented in the form of episodes which depict a certain span of time. The first disc covers 1945 through 1966 and is broken up into episodes entitled "Dominoes" and "American Boys". The second covers 1966 to 1972 with episodes "LBJ's War", "Dark Days", and "Was it Worth it?". And finally the last disc looks at much of the conflict as a whole with dates ranging from 1964 to 1973 for episodes "Last Man to Die" and "In Love and War".

In "Dominoes" the documentary starts out by introducing how the Vietnam Conflict came about. From the French occupation the fall of Japan in World War II events over the course of several years came to a head. Seeing an opportunity, Hồ Chí Minh steps up to the plate and the "revolution" begins. The presentation of the documentary is relatively drab and with a deadpanned narration that doesn't help matters. The real draw here (aside from the information) is the remarkable amount of footage from early on in the war. That's typically what fascinates me with this type of documentary; the rare clips and videos. As this particular episode moves forward in years the content gets better and more personalized as American forces become involved. Because of that, "American Boys" was much better in my opinion

With a more dynamic narration and information about particular strategies, things got much more interesting. People are brought in for interview-like segments where they discuss various tactics and such. This definitely helped the flow of the commentary. The full color footage did a lot for the presentation as well. There are some strikingly beautiful and disastrously ugly shots included here for better or worse. Either way you look at it there is a wealth of information here and some vintage stuff many of you history buffs have probably not seen before.

From there the second and third disc follow suit, cataloging events that took place between 1966 and 1975. Like the content on the first disc the material here just gets better and better. The detail that gets covered is absolutely astounding and is rich enough to the point that much of the information goes beyond what you'd find in a history book. Original videos with officers talking about tactics, discussions about technical issues, and personal accounts from the war help make things much more interesting the further into these documentaries you get.

The pacing is really the only bump in the road that Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicle 1945 - 1975 hits. That's one of the pitfalls of making a documentary since it has to be informational and entertaining enough to keep the viewer from losing interest. The first part of this release is really a bore compared to the latter episodes, though you can see the progression of things as it gets better throughout the years. From start to finish this is still an interesting collection of documentaries and it really depicts the tragedies (and triumphs) in Vietnam from the beginning of the war to the end. Any lover of wartime history and personal accounts definitely owes it to themselves to check out the material here; even if just for the rare video footage.

Because Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicle 1945 - 1975 is a documentary you know going in that it's going to be comprised mostly of decade old footage. Due to the fact that much of the material here is between thirty and sixty years old you have to take the video quality with a grain of salt. The newer the footage the better the film-grade but there are some clips here so muddied you can't see what's going on. Even so the fact that most of these battlefield clips are still around is a tremendous feat.

As far as the interview segments are concerned the quality is fair with a good degree of sharpness but some clips have a touch of grain. Overall the image here is good for what it is and wartime aficionados will appreciate the wealth of footage even though much of it aged in quality.

Presented with a 2.0 stereo English track the audio quality in Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicle 1945 - 1975 sadly leaves you wanting more. The narrative is often muted by the soundtrack and sound effects making it difficult to hear much of anything sometimes. At other points the volume pitches horribly causing the narrative to come out louder than it previously had. Overall the whole sound balance is just off and in the end this is a below average stereo selection.

Typically for documentaries the extra features consist of additional information regarding the subject matter. This is true for Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicle 1945 - 1975 and another four mini-episodes are included here on the first and third disc. They range in topics from discussions about the helicopters and some military productions about the Vietnam War. These are interesting in the sense that they provide more information but in terms of quality they aren't as good as the original episodes themselves.

If you're looking for a very comprehensive look at the Vietnam War either for yourself or for someone you know then Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicle 1945 - 1975 is definitely worth checking out. Packed to the gills with well over five hours of documentaries just about every topic gets covered with different degrees of success. The quality of the DVD and material is a little spotty at times but you can't deny the fact that many of these episodes are powerful and inspirational. Check it out if you want some more wartime documentaries in your collection.

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