THE narration of "Far From Vietnam" is of such serene banality and ugliness that it might have been written by a misprogramed spokesman for the military-industrial complex. But if the narration were cut—and I seriously think it is impossible for anyone concerned with facts, or words or the war to sit through it—the result might be interesting, a kind of rambling partisan newsreel collage. The film represents a collaboration by six directors (Alain Resnais, Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, William Klein, Joris Ivens and Agnes Varda) who wanted to do a work of antiwar (or more accurately, anti-U.S. involvement in the Vietnamese war) propaganda, without spending much thought or effort on it.

There is a fine short interview with Ho Chi Minh, in which he says Vietnam can wait as long as it takes, and an interview with Fidel Castro, in which he says that a guerilla war that has the support of the people is the only force stronger than the new technology. There is a very moving conversation between a Vietnamese lady living in Paris and Mrs. Norman Morrison, widow of the American Quaker who burned himself to death to protest the war; it becomes clear why this strange gesture of most extreme nonviolence meant a great deal in many lives.

But there are so many easy ironies: A television commercial for Band-Aids juxtaposed with war scenes, with more television commercials in case anyone missed the point; a broken film from the defective camera of Michele Ray in Vietnam, with a suggestion that a broken film is what makes the best sort of statement about the war, "the cry that [Miss Ray] would have wanted to utter"; a sneaking endorsement of violence in the name of peace, or race, or poverty, or powerlessness — or, in fact, anything that is not U.S. foreign policy.

Shots of demonstrations in New York, in Paris, even clips of "La Chinoise." It is all too facile and slipshod and stereotyped—designed to enrage one cliché cast of mind against the Administration and another against the enragés. The movie has, in any case, been overtaken by events. The last thing we need now is political stereo-types in a rage. A broken film doesn't really make the best statement about anything. Or utter a cry.

The movie, which opened yesterday for a one-week run at the New Yorker Theater, was shown at last year's New York Film Festival.

The Program
FAR FROM VIETNAM, a commentary on the war in Vietnam directed by Alain Resnais, William Klein, Joris Ivens, Agnes Varda, Calude Lelouch and Jean-Luc Godard; edited by Chris Marker; presented by New Yorker Films. At the New Yorker Theater, Broadway and 88th Street. Running time: 90 minutes.