On June 19, 1966, McKinley Nolan, a fresh-faced young man from the cotton fields of Washington, Texas, went to Vietnam. He left behind his wife, a son, an extended family, and several friends-- none of whom have seen him since.
Forty years later, the search is still underway.
The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan is instantly one of the most moving and utterly compelling documentaries of recent years. Director Henry Corra (NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell, Same Sex America) paints an incredibly moving portrait of a family who continues to hold out hope while also enduring countless rumors about Nolan's disappearance. Was he a deserter? A POW? A spy? Killed in action?
The brightest light of hope for the family comes in the person of Lt. Dan Smith, a grizzled Vietnam veteran who believes he encountered Nolan in Vietnam in 2005. Disappearance begins with Smith on his way to Texas to share his story with Nolan's wife Mary.
The documentary, which was executive produced by actor Danny Glover, had its world premiere Saturday night in Nolan's hometown. It lasts all of 77 minutes but intricately weaves together three different stories and does it almost flawlessly. Even though we only see Nolan in a couple of decades-old photographs, you can't help but feel that he is alive and well and having a conversation with you as the movie plays. At the same time, Lt. Smith continues to battle his personal demons, 40 years after leaving Vietnam; in fact, he's still wrestling with his decision to speak with the family even as he pulls into their driveway. And Nolan's loved ones, unsatisfied with the US Government's official declaration that Nolan was an Army deserter, are eager to hear any news they can about his fate.
Without a sentence of narration and relying heavily on more than two dozen interviews that Corra conducted, Disappearance blends those three stories expertly. Traveling from Texas to Vietnam to the killing fields of Cambodia (the last place, before Smith's sighting, that Nolan was seen alive), Corra spoke with Nolan's fellow POWs, former Viet Cong soldiers, and, stunningly, former officers in the Khmer Rouge.
Beyond the gripping story, Disappearance also benefits from Corra's patience in the editing room. Not happy to just throw together a slap-dash film for the short-attention-span generation, Corra wisely lets each scene play through until its end. Some of Disappearance's most poignant moments come after the subject stops talking, as the camera lingers for an extra two or three seconds to capture the raw emotions.
Disappearance is all at once a haunting film, a compelling story, and an amazing look at aspects of the Vietnam War that had previously remained just as mysterious as Nolan's fate.
The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan will have its first public showing at the AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival in Silver Spring, MD, Thursday, June 24th at 9:30pm.
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Comments
The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan has brought us into the thicket of a difficult mystery. Yet flanked by both the anguish of love and uncertainty, and the controversy of desertion - we have arrived at a clearing for discussion. Please join this conversation and others, as we examine the facts revealed through www.McKinleyNolan.com, and discuss the intricacies of this resonant point in history on www.twitter.com/CorraFilms, or www.facebook.com/TheDisappearanceofMcKinleyNolan. Together with the family, veterans, and film-makers - your insight, experience, or story may bring us further into understanding this mystery.
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