$pent (2000)

I'm a gay dove and still liked it!
How does history affect elite institutions and how do elite institutions affect history? This documentary tries to answering that by focusing on West Point, the institution built from where George Washington trained soldiers for the American Revolution. This is a constructionst work: when the citizens are proud of the military (like World War II), they love West Point, when they feel the opposite (i.e. the Vietnam War), they downgrade it. A big emphasis here is the Civil War when many cadets dropped out to help the Confederacy. Civil War enthusiasts will love this disc. The film covers phenomena that happen on any campus, hazing and cheating. It mentions the first blacks and women to graduate from the school. There are many hawkish icons here: McArthur, Eisenhower, Schwartzkopf, etc. I don't care for Andre Braugher as an actor, but he did a good job narrating this work. I disliked that homophobia is not brought up. The disc celebrates the gender- and racial diversity of the school, but ignores the fact that openly gay and lesbian students would be expelled. This film ends with the graduation of the class of 2001. That means pre-911 and the Iraq War. So another chapter is being created right as viewers are watching the work. I think students and parents of students considering any military academies must see this documentary. It was excellent; even a dove such as myself can admit this.