THE BOYS WHO SAID NO!

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Judith Ehrlich tells the story of a mass movement of draft resisters who choose conscience over killing in the Vietnam War. Young Americans, barely adults, find their faith in their country shaken by the Vietnam War. Inspired by Black America’s crusade for equal rights, they choose to resist, and openly refuse military service, risking prison to end the horrors of war.

The Boys Who Said NO! is the first documentary film to profile the young men and women who actively opposed the military draft in order to end the Vietnam War. The film shows how their personal and collective acts of nonviolent resistance, risking arrest and imprisonment for up to 5 years, were a critical part of the antiwar movement, intensifying opposition to the war and eventually forcing an end to both conscription and the war.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, resistance to the American war in Vietnam grew substantially. Hundreds of thousands of draft age men refused to cooperate with the draft. Tens of thousands immigrated to Canada, Sweden and other countries. American soldiers in Vietnam increasingly refused to follow orders and risked court martial and prison for organizing inside the military. Claims for conscientious objector status soared to unprecedented levels. Millions marched against the war.

While an estimated 500,000 young men resisted, evaded or just refused to cooperate with the draft, overloading federal courts, just 10,000 were indicted and 4,000 were imprisoned for their beliefs. These young men were willing to serve long prison sentences on the basis of their beliefs that the war was immoral and human life was sacred.

Folk music diva Joan Baez, who learned the power of nonviolence from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. plays a central role. Dr. King visits Baez during her 45 day-jail term in Santa Rita Prison for blocking the Oakland Induction Center. He links the racial justice and peace movements in an impassioned speech delivered at the prison gates.

And Dr. King stands at the side of World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali after he refuses induction – an act of faith heard round the world.

Dr. King, Ali and Baez ground viewers in the historical moment. But it is protagonists whose names are nearly lost to history who make draft resistance a mass movement and who drive this important story. Ali declares his sacrifice small compared to the men nobody knows. “I look at them as being more great than I am,” he says.

Ehrlich introduces a score of these resisters, including: David Harris, who falls in love with and marries Joan after seeking her support for his new organization, “The Resistance.” She is pregnant with their child when David goes to prison for refusing induction.

The Boys Who Said NO! is an overdue and definitive account of the principled and powerful nonviolent resistance to America's most problematic war. These young men risked years in prison to challenge a war of tragic human proportions. Their leadership, personal sacrifices, and example had a direct effect on ending the war, and are an important example for today's movements for social justice and peace.