A talented at the right place at the right time
Ms. Lin is best know, to those of us in the DC area anyway, for the Vietnam War Memorial.

Those of us familiar with that landmark know that hers was one of many--over 1,400--proposals for the memorial. And she, a 21 year old Yale architecture student, won.

That memorial is the beginning of this film/DVD. In fact, I learned a little more about it. I didn't know, for example, that there was some adamant opposition to it. I did know that some Vietnam vets felt it lacked the symbolism on which they insisted. For that reason, the statue of the three troops was added after "The Wall" was completed.

The film also shows some of Ms. Linn's other designs, e.g., the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama and the peace chapel at a college in Pennsylvania.

I appreciated the film because of the references to these other memorials, and also because Ms. Linn was able to describe her artistic reasoning behind all of them. The Vietnam wall, for example, is to allow the living to meet with the dead; the water that covers many of her memorials is to serve a symbolic purpose.

In short, I rather like all her designs. At the same time, if she hadn't been chosen for the Vietnam War Memorial, I don't know that such a film would have been made.

That's not to discredit her work, which, again, is great. And I'm glad the film describes so much about all of her designs that I wouldn't have otherwise known.

Maya Lin
Courage and focus at such an young age. Reinforces the concept of the individual vision developing beyond what would otherwise be ordinary.

Maya Lin - A Strong Clear Vision
A compelling portrait of a brilliant artist and a surprisingly unassuming person, Freida Lee Mock's fascinating documentary takes us inside this brilliant young artist's unique process, but also lets us get to know her. What emerges is an inspiring visual document about what can be achieved when a gifted youth is given every encouragement and opportunity to pursue her muse. Must-viewing.

asian architect, american icon
When Maya Lin was just a twenty-one year old architecture student at Yale, the committee for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial chose her proposal (a class assignment, it turns out) from a national competition of 1,441 submissions as the winning design. Then the battle began. Congress people and even Vietnam veterans opposed it, the latter caricaturing it as a "big, black scar in the earth." Others compared it to a boomerang. Lin was vilified as a communist. And a memorial designed by an Asian, woman, college student? In the end, after congressional hearings at which the young Lin testified, her design was built and then dedicated in 1982. I have taken my family to the memorial when we visited Washington and, along with virtually everyone who has visited, can attest to the incredibly evocative power of this public monument. The first half of this documentary covers the VVM; the last half reviews her other prominent works, namely, the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, the Museum of African Art, the Wexner Center at Ohio State University, a fountain commemorating the contributions of women at Yale, an open air Peace Chapel, and her work with the Presidio project in San Francisco. I am always inspired and encouraged to follow the story of a person whose sense of vocation is so strong and crystal clear. This film won an Academy Award as Best Documentary in 1994.

3 X longer than it ought to have been
why do documentarians need to pad their movies? this wouldve been a nice half-hour film about the building of the vietnam veterans memorial, but it gets lost in far less compelling side tales. truth be told: ms lin is just not a very compelling personality.