Vietnam Film Festival kicks off at Carnegie Mellon

Looking for something more than practical jokes to enliven your April Fool’s Day? Thursday,… Looking for something more than practical jokes to enliven your April Fool’s Day? Thursday, April 1 kicks off Carnegie Mellon University’s “Tour of Duty,” a four-day film festival featuring blockbusters and documentaries about the Vietnam War.

“Tour of Duty” has a spectacular lineup, including the works of Stanley Kubrick, Oliver Stone and Francis Ford Coppola. Thursday evening closes with Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” which explores the brutalities of basic training before diving into the horrors of actual combat.

Friday’s highlight is “Platoon” — Stone’s Academy Award-winning film in which danger and hostility can come from one’s own side. Told through the eyes of a new recruit, “Platoon” traces the bonds and conflicts of a single American unit.

The third day wakes up to “Good Morning, Vietnam” — an injection of humor via Robin Williams in the midst of an otherwise somber subject. The box office hit “We Were Soldiers” and Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” will be screened later on Saturday.

Sunday features primarily documentaries. The last of the lineup, “The Fog of War,” remembers crucial moments of Vietnam through the words of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Director Errol Morris’ film picked up the 2003 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

In addition to the screenings, “Tour of Duty” includes a panel discussion with Vietnam War veterans. Lectures will be given by Barbara Sonneborn, director of “Regret to Inform,” as well as author Le Ly Hayslip, upon whose novel the film “Heaven and Earth” was based.

Five of the fourteen films are free, while the others charge $2 admission for non-CMU students. For more information about dates, times and locations visit the festival’s Web site at www.cmu.edu/filmfestival.