Last Days in Vietnam

Gr 9 Up—The 1973 Paris Peace Accords outlined an orderly American withdrawal from the Vietnam War. However, certain factors came to a head in the final days and hours of the U.S. presence in the country, culminating in a chaotic evacuation from the American embassy in April 1975. These included President Nixon's resignation the previous year, the North Vietnamese army's relentless push south, and Ambassador Graham Martin's refusal to leave vulnerable South Vietnamese citizens behind. Director Rory Kennedy uses extensive archival footage (including battle scenes and occasional shots of dead bodies) as well as current-day interviews with military personnel and civilians who took part in the retreat. The moral dilemmas are tempered by these focused interviews and the reflections from those who were there. The footage is wrenching, including scenes of desperate people outside the embassy gates and boats so filled with refugees that they look as if they might sink. It's hard to imagine any viewer coming away unmoved and without a stronger understanding of the final months of American involvement in Vietnam.