The Vietnam War

When portraying something in a film as historical and dramatic as a war, what reasons could there be for certain exaggerations being displayed? Clearly, a war is full of the blood and gore of any horror movie, as well as real life instances that could interest any viewer. This weeks reading 'Where Trouble Comes' uses specific questions in order to help create a "historical lie-detector test" for movies depicting the war. My question is, if war, particularly the Vietnam War, is so controversial already and has all of the drama that may interest an audience, then why must they embellish such a topic for film?
To be completely honest, I don’t know very much about the Vietnam War, or any war for that matter. In junior high and high school I learned all about world history and specifically United States history. However, unfortunately, I don’t remember any of it. I don’t remember having seen any war movies and I definitely don’t recall what I may have learned in anything I read about the Vietnam War. When the Vietnam War is mentioned, I think about how all throughout high school my friends Andres and Thomas would spend four long periods talking about war, past wars, current wars, foreign wars- you name it. And I think about how they both joined the Army once they graduated last year. From what I remember, the Vietnam War was one of the most bloody and longest wars to date.
I know that with any war comes a lot of death and violence. I was raised by my mother, a very peaceful woman, who wouldn’t even allow a water gun in the house so as a little girl I had no interest in guns and fighting and to this day I still don’t. I support our troops but I do not support the war. Even so, I still feel that in order to really have a real opinion on important topics like this; you must know as much information as possible. I’d like to learn more about the Vietnam War so that I wouldn’t be relying on others opinions, instead I’d be constructing my own.