10 November 2005
Thursday 10 November 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
The film Hearts and Minds was made about the Vietnam War over 30 years ago but watching it now demands comparisons with present day. The director Peter Davis talks to Paul Allen about the making of a film that the Washington Post described as the "best documentary ever".
Programme details
The Qing dynasty is sometimes regarded as an unfashionable and unspectacular period of Chinese history. A major new exhibition in London, on loan from the Palace Museum in Beijing, puts the record straight, focusing on the artistic and cultural riches of the three most powerful Qing emperors from 1662 - 1795. The Royal Academy has been transformed with the colours and materials of the Forbidden City and is filled with objects and an impressive array of paintings - from intimate (and surprisingly individualistic) landscapes to grand and vast scroll paintings showing palace life and public rituals in minute detail. In tonight's Night Waves, Craig Clunas, professor of Chinese Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies and Francis Wood from the British Library join Paul Allen to discuss the history and cultural output of the Qing dynasty and its lingering influence on today's China.
The Academy Award winning documentary Hearts and Minds was made about the Vietnam War over 30 years ago but watching it now demands comparisons with the present day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The film was directed by Peter Davis and is about to enjoy a new lease of life as it is released on DVD in this country for the first time. Peter Davis talks to Paul Allen about the making of a film that the Washington Post described as the "best documentary ever" and describes its historical impact.
Also on the programme; Susannah Clapp reviews a new Howard Brenton play at the National Theatre which dares to suggest that the religious writings of St Paul were based on a terrible lie, the writer CP Lee celebrates the latest arrival of Bob Dylan on British shores, and we hear from America why Darwin is no longer good enough.
Additional Information
China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795 opens at the Royal Academy of Arts on 12th November
Hearts and Minds is released on 21st November on DVD.
Paul runs at the National Theatre until 4th February 2006.
