It Started in Vietnam…and Exploded in the Streets of America

The War at Home is Back

The War at Home tells the story of the impact of the war in Vietnam on one American city, using Madison, Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin as a microcosm for the national Antiwar Movement. The film vividly depicts a decade of antiwar resistance from the earliest Vietnam war protest in 1963; to some of the most violent antiwar demonstrations of the era (1967-72); to the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement that formally ended the U.S. role in the war in 1973.

Using a treasure trove of local TV news film, illuminated by more than twenty original on-camera interviews with student antiwar activists, Vietnam Veterans, community leaders, mothers, police officials and others, The War at Home details the actions and events that turned the Midwestern city of Madison into one of the major domestic battlegrounds of the Antiwar Movement.

First released in 1979, The War at Home was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary and went on to win top awards at the U.S. Film Festival (Sundance) and the Chicago International Film Festival, just a few years after the war in Vietnam came to an end.

New 4K restoration by IndieCollect.
A Catalyst Media Productions release.

Yesterday

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, The War at Home tells the story of the impact of the war in Vietnam on the Midwestern City of Madison, Wisconsin as a microcosm of the national protest movement.

The film reveals how the Antiwar movement grew from a small group of student activists in the early ‘60’s at the University of Wisconsin and on college campuses across the nation to become the biggest U.S. protest movement of the 20th Century.

Today

Black Lives Matter has involved between 15 to 26 million people in June and July 2020 making it the largest protest movement in U.S. History. (Source: Civis Analytics ). The connection between today’s outpouring of moral outrage and political protest against police brutality has its roots in the 1960s Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements. The tactics, strategies and lessons of the Antiwar Movement, seen in The War at Home are relevant to the mass protests and political polarization that’s been playing out in the BLM demonstrations across the nation. Once again Americans, led by young people, are taking action, challenging their government and its people to rise up and make real change so America can live up to its promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.