Legacies of War: Vietnam Across the Divides
14 Episodes
On the fiftieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon, filmmaker and program curator Tony Bui presents a multiperspective look at the Vietnam War on film, moving beyond conventional narratives to include voices and viewpoints often overlooked in mainstream cinema. While the most famous Vietnam War films—like the cultural touchstones PLATOON and FULL METAL JACKET—focus on the experience of American soldiers, this selection paints a broader, more complex picture, exploring Vietnamese perspectives, the war’s impact on civilians, and postwar reckoning. Encompassing powerfully human Vietnamese dramas like THE LITTLE GIRL OF HANOI and WHEN THE TENTH MONTH COMES, wrenching documentaries like REGRET TO INFORM and HEARTS AND MINDS, and Bui’s own poetic reflection on Vietnam past and present, THREE SEASONS, these stories of loss, resilience, trauma, and reconciliation offer new ways of understanding a conflict that shattered and shaped countless lives.
Presented in cooperation with the Viet Nam Film Institute. Special thanks to the Permanent Mission of Viet Nam to the United Nations in New York.
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Legacies of War: Vietnam Across the Divides Teaser
Episode 1
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Platoon
Episode 2
Directed by Oliver Stone • 1986 • United States
Starring Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom BerengerDirector Oliver Stone drew from his own experiences for this searing antiwar epic, one of the most brutally realistic Hollywood films made about the horrors of the Vietnam War. Alongside an impress...
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1:56:34Episode 3
Full Metal Jacket
Episode 3
Directed by Stanley Kubrick • 1987 • United Kingdom, United States
Starring Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D’OnofrioDirector Stanley Kubrick rips the skin from the face of war to expose the dehumanizing effect of the military on the people fed into its meat grinder in this lacerating and...
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1:48:40Episode 4
Three Seasons
Episode 4
Directed by Tony Bui • 1999 • Vietnam, United States
Starring Đơn Dương, Nguyễn Ngọc Hiệp, Harvey KeitelThe first American feature to be filmed in Vietnam in the aftermath of the war, Tony Bui’s gorgeous, richly textured portrait of everyday life in a rapidly changing, increasingly westernized ...
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1:53:40Episode 5
Casualties of War
Episode 5
Directed by Brian De Palma • 1989 • United States
Starring Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don HarveyOne of the most harrowing Hollywood films to confront the legacy of the Vietnam War, CASUALTIES OF WAR is based on the true story of a squad of soldiers caught in a moral quagmire. Witness to a vile ...
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1:12:23Episode 6
Regret to Inform
Episode 6
Directed by Barbara Sonneborn • 1998 • United States
In this powerful and poetic documentary, the legacy of the Vietnam War is explored from a perspective rarely acknowledged: that of the survivors whose lives continue to be impacted by the loss of their loved ones. Twenty years after her husban...
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1:25:16Episode 7
When the Tenth Month Comes
Episode 7
Directed by Đặng Nhật Minh • 1984 • Vietnam
Starring Lê Vân, Nguyen Hữu Mười, Nguyễn Minh VươngWidely regarded as one of the greatest Vietnamese films ever made, this deeply moving exploration of grief and trauma centers on Duyên (Lê Vân), a young woman whose husband is killed in Vietnam’s post...
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1:47:05Episode 8
The Fog of War
Episode 8
Directed by Errol Morris • 2003 • United States
Starring Robert S. McNamaraThis Oscar-winning documentary is a twentieth-century fable, the story of an American dreamer who rose from humble origins to the heights of political power. Robert S. McNamara was both witness to and participant in many...
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2:15:06Episode 9
Journey from the Fall
Episode 9
Directed by Ham Tran • 2006 • United States
Starring Kiều Chinh, Long Nguyen, Diem LienInspired by the true stories of Vietnamese refugees who fled their land after the fall of Saigon—and those who were forced to stay behind—JOURNEY FROM THE FALL follows one family’s struggle for freedom. April...
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1:15:16Episode 10
The Little Girl of Hanoi
Episode 10
Directed by Hải Ninh • 1974 • North Vietnam
Starring Lan Hương, Trà Giang, Thế AnhHaunting and indelible, this landmark of Vietnamese cinema depicts the horrors of the Vietnam War from the point of view of a young girl (Lan Hương) as she searches for her family amid the rubble-strewn streets of...
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1:55:24Episode 11
In Country
Episode 11
Directed by Norman Jewison • 1989 • United States
Starring Bruce Willis, Emily Lloyd, Joan AllenBased on the acclaimed novel by Bobbie Ann Mason, IN COUNTRY is a powerful portrait of one Kentucky family’s struggle to heal the wounds caused by America's involvement in Vietnam, as seen through th...
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1:34:21Episode 12
On the Same River
Episode 12
Directed by Nguyễn Hồng Nghi and Phạm Kỳ Nam • 1959 • North Vietnam
Starring Phi Nga, Mạnh Linh, Song KimThe first feature shot in North Vietnam is a stirring, strongly anticolonialist tale of two lovers, Vận (Mạnh Linh) a guerrilla fighter for the North, and Hoài (Phi Nga), a young woman from ...
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1:18:57Episode 13
Ms. Tư Hậu
Episode 13
Directed by Phạm Kỳ Nam • 1963 • North Vietnam
Starring Trà Giang • Trần Phương • Minh TriAcclaimed as one of the most important films in Vietnamese cinema history, this galvanizing ode to the courage of the Vietnamese women who fought against French imperialism features a stunning performance ...
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1:51:58Episode 14
Hearts and Minds
Episode 14
Directed by Peter Davis • 1974 • United States
A startling and courageous film, Peter Davis’s landmark 1974 documentary HEARTS AND MINDS unflinchingly confronted the United States’ involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it. Using a wealth of sources—from intervie...