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The Boys Who Said NO! (film)

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The Boys Who Said NO! is a 2020 documentary film about the draft resistance movement in the United States during the Vietnam War, the largest refusal to fight a war in American history [1].

The film features young men who publicly refused to be drafted to fight, risking up to 5 years in federal prison, as a means of opposing a war they believed was unnecessary and unjust. Among those was world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who refused induction, risking his boxing career. The film also includes women and men who supported the draft resistance movement, including folksinger Joan Baez who married resister David Harris, civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame, and baby doctor Benjamin Spock.

The film illustrates how the draft resistance movement was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and its nonviolent tactics to oppose the war. Featured in the film is co-founder of SNCC, Cleveland Sellers, an early draft resister who spent time in federal prison.

The film was initiated and produced by Christopher Colorado Jones and Bill Prince. The film is directed by Judith Ehrlich, Oscar-nominated for the film The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.

Film Festivals

The Boys Who Said NO! first festival screening was at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival in July 2020.

It will premiere in US film festivals starting in October 2020.

References

  • Lawrence M. Baskir; William A. Strauss (1978). Chance and Circumstance: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation. Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-72749-3.
  1. ^ Lawrence M. Baskir; William A. Strauss (1978). Chance and Circumstance: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation. Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-72749-3.