MELBOURNE FILM FESTIVAL PRESS REVIEWS

“A stand out film . . .  The Boys Who Said No! is a playbook for the resistors of conscience putting individual belief in combined effort to change the minds of America. Profound and startling in its revelation of how the revolution to justice starts with one person understanding their power to say no. Fascinating because it is a movement from the beginning to end offering lessons learnt to future fighters for justice.”
     – Annie McLoughlin, Showreel

“One of the major highlights of this year’s Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is a documentary called The Boys Who Said No!...an insightful and comprehensive documentary about the draft resistors and conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War.  The film is especially prescient today as it dovetails in with the Civil Rights movement and the current issues relating to the racial divide in America and the rest of the world.“
     – Peter Krausz, Movie Metropolis, WYN-FM Melbourne

“The Boys Who Said No! . . .  shows how bravery and courage are contagious. As this feature presents, it's when one steps out of the pages of history that people can pave a way for real change. Successful resistance doesn't have to be violent, and social change can start from the smallest of acts. The idea is that you don't have to be Martin Luther King or Gandhi, but that each individual can band together to make a difference - and most importantly, force change with nonviolence.  What The Boys Who Said No!  is able to do is not only show how something like this came about, but why it is so important. An interesting, thought-provoking and ultimately challenging film, TThe Boys Who Said No!  is not to be missed.”
     – Joel Kalkopf, Switch


“A fascinating exploration of the protest movement that helped reinforce draft resistance during the Vietnam War era.”
     - Dov Kornits, Filmink

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Melbourne Film Festival Top Five.  The Boys Who Said NO! is a fascinating documentary about the lengths that a government would go to in order to keep a war machine working, and also the ways in which passive as well as active protest can be a tool of change.

- Samaya Boron, Right Now

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REVIEWS FROM EDUCATORS

 

"The Boys Who Said No! tells an important story.... Theirs was a cause built on fundamental American responsibilities -- that we speak truth to power and resist the unjust, unjustifiable, and illegal. It's an engaging, compelling documentary with considerable relevance today. And there's a lesson in it that transcends the Vietnam era: that individual actions can make a difference.”
   –Leonard Steinhorn, Affiliate Professor of History
  School of Communication, American University

  CBS News Political Analyst

 

 

“Wonderful, truly inspiring and informative, with a powerful message about the necessity of resisting unjust war and the imperative of nonviolence. The linkage to the civil rights movement and the role of Dr. King is brilliant and critically important. A fantastic job on an essential film that everyone who cares about justice and peace will want to see.”
–David Cortright, Vietnam-era Veteran
  Director of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
  University of Notre Dame


"There is never a blueprint for social movements -- there are templates -- and this film is an important one. It's powerful. And it's an excellent classroom resource that beautifully highlights another link on the chain of the long arch of American activism.”
–Susan Erenrich, Ph.D., Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
  School of Professional and Extended Studies, American University