‘Movies are a Business’: Filmmaker Oliver Stone Talks Vietnam War at Tense IOP Forum

W. Oliver Stone, a controversial American filmmaker known for his movies on the Vietnam War, discussed storytelling about the war and the future of American diplomacy at a strained Institute of Politics forum on Wednesday.

The event — moderated by former University President Drew Gilpin Faust — also featured Le Ly Hayslip, an acclaimed Vietnamese-American writer who survived the Vietnam War, and was slated to cover how Hayslip and Stone retell the history of the Vietnam War in their books and films, respectively.

But Stone — a veteran of the Vietnam War — spent much of his time talking about his pessimistic view of the U.S. government and its depictions of war, railing against the American education system, U.S. politicians, and what he called “government media.”

“Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Kamala Harris — they talk about war positively. They like the idea,” Stone said. “Let’s not kid ourselves about women.”

“The Democrats have become the war party,” he added later.

Stone has previously come under fire for his praise of dictators, including Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. In a television series Stone hosted in 2012, he called Hitler “an easy scapegoat throughout history” and said Stalin had “a complete other story.”

Before the event, members of the Harvard Kennedy School Ukraine Caucus circulated an article published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project criticizing Stone’s involvement in two documentaries on Ukraine, which the article called “pro-Kremlin propaganda.”

Affiliates distributed flyers with a QR code linking to the OCCRP article to attendees as they entered the JFK Jr. Forum at the Kennedy School, where the event had been hosted.

Nathalie R. Timtchenko, co-chair of HKS Ukraine Caucus, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that “Harvard University prides itself for its commitment to truth, facts and intellectual integrity, which is why it is deeply concerning to see that the prestigious Institute of Politics (IOP) invited Oliver Stone in what appeared to be a favorable light.”

“I believe that the IOP should provide a detailed explanation of their reasoning behind this invitation,” she added

An IOP spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday evening.

During the event, the panelists also discussed Stone’s 1993 biographical war drama “Heaven & Earth,” which is based on Hayslip’s bestselling memoir, “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places.”

The film follows Hayslip’ life and tells the true story of her capture by the Republic of Vietnam and torture by the Viet Cong. She later fled to Ho Chi Minh City before moving to San Diego.

Hayslip has spent decades telling her story and warning against war. “War is not something that we want to forget,” she told attendees.

“Give the Vietnamese a voice,” Hayslip added. “Give them a face, give them a name, give them something they can die happy with.”

Stone, however, reminded audiences that it was difficult to convince Americans that Hayslip’s story was worth telling.

“I had tremendous success with those other two films, but with Le Ly’s film, we ran into a wall,” he said. “I think it’s very hard to relate to a Vietnamese peasant for an American intellectual or an American moviegoer.”

When an event attendee pressed Stone about the ethics of profiting from the stories of war survivors, he responded sharply.

“Yeah they made money, thank God,” he retorted. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make the next one. What’s his problem? Doesn’t he understand that movies are a business?”

More than five decades since he began making films, Stone said he is not holding out any hope for the future of international relations and U.S. politics.

“Our presidents, our leadership, has put us into deeper and deeper holes, finding imaginary paranoia, enemies that they see because they want to see it, because they know that there’s money there,” Stone said.

“It’s just this constant macho build up of aggression,” he added. “That’s where this country is — in the grip of this aggression. We have to get out of it.”

—Staff writer Cam E. Kettles can be reached at cam.kettles@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cam_kettles or on Threads @camkettles.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.