Director Judith Ehrlich
Rated M
Score 6/6

Half a century ago, young Americans coming of age watch as President Johnson suddenly launches a war in Vietnam, drafting a thousand men a day to go into combat, and then watch again as the war proves brutal and senseless. Though many find a way out, some decide to resist, openly refusing the call to duty as an act of conscience, provoking arrest to build opposition and stop the war

As I sat down to watch The Boys who said no, I had no clue what it was about because I did not read a synopsis beforehand. One of the reasons that you should go to a film festival is the opportunity to see the diverse approaches to something like a documentary. The approach that was taken with The Boys who Said No is one of the approaches that I would stereotypically associate with a documentary.
The men featured in this documentary do not look movies stereotypically portray a conscientious objector they look as if they could somebody’s Father, Uncle or Grandfather and what they had to say was very interesting particularly Christopher Jones. I know it might seem lazy of me but this is another documentary where I can draw the connection to The Boondock Saints quote ‘do possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to go as far is as needed?’ (though considering this is now the second time that I have gone to this quote I should note that the MacManus aren’t exactly peaceful) but in my mind you have the right to be able to die on your own circumstances because all it took was time before society’s opinion on the war changed, the section about the prosecutions for draft card burning to be very interesting.
The most moving moments of the documentary was the footage of men turning in their draft cards and stating their names.