In 1982, when I was a freshman at Edgewood College, I was in an Intro to Political Science; Jim Rowen was my teacher. It was an outstanding class and very influential on my political outlook. I began the class a Republican like my parents and family and at the end of the semester was a Democrat.
The movie was very informative and documented very well the trials and tribulations that the protesters experienced and often times suffered. The build up to the Sterling Hall bombing was very vivid and riveting.
Both the movie, and moreso the class, taught me how wasteful Pentagon spending is when done excessively as it was during the Reagan years as well as with the poor, misguided president we have now.
The movie indicates that with poor policies which lead a nation into a war they have no business fighting, then there will often be repression by the government justifying the war and diligent, compelling people asking questions and voicing their dissent. The hope is that there are enough diligent people as there were during the Vietnam War to make a difference.