Erase and Forget
Investigative portrait of famous Vietnam vet, ‘Bo’ Gritz, the inspiration for Rambo, that exposes the complexities of how America creates its own reality.
Gallery
Credits
Dir Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Prod Ameenah Ayub Allen, Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Scr Taina Galis, Andrea Luka Zimmerman
With Bo Gritz, Ted Kotcheff, Tudor Gates
UK
2017
88min
Sales LUX Distribution
An excavation of the influence of fiction on truth in the American imagination of warfare and gun culture. ‘Bo’ Gritz is one of the most decorated Vietnam vets. He inspired the character of Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo. But when disenchantment set in at covert methods of suppression, he turns whistle-blower to high level collusion and corruption in the US Government, making him an official outcast. Zimmerman’s patiently convivial but uncompromising style gets under the skin of this public figure who remains emblematic of his homeland. He personifies the US’s relationship with its enemies and with itself, supporting gun carrying and anti-government conspiracy theories while performing his own role as an action hero for the people. Using newly discovered archive footage and extensive interviews, the film uncovers how America’s own cultural mythmaking invades its collective psyche to the extent that movies and games come to mean more than reality.
Helen de Witt
Festival guests
These members of the filmmaking team are expected to attend the festival:
- Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Director
See the full list of visiting festival guests. Please note that we can't guarantee guest attendance at any particular screening.
Additional information
See our salon event Experimenta Salon Anatomy of an Artist’s Film Production with Andrea Luka Zimmerman.

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