Vietnam - The World Won't Forget

In no previous conflict were so many bombs and chemical weapons used as in Vietnam. The tactics of both Americans and Vietnamese were inconceivably relentless. Countless people in Vietnam and the USA are still suffering from the after-effects: veterans who cannot come to terms with their traumatic memories; children who were born with illnesses and horrendous deformities. From a distance the world took part. It was the first war in which shocking images were broadcast into the living rooms of the people. Our film tells the story of this war from the viewpoint of those who experienced it. On the one hand we follow the diary of Dang Thuy Tram, a young North Vietnamese doctor who was murdered by American soldiers in 1970. At the same time, we allow contemporary witnesses to have their say. There is Frederic Whitehurst, an American GI who saved this diary, activist Tom Hayden who is now leading the “Peace and Justice Resources Center” in Los Angeles, or Doan Ahn Tuyet who fought for the Vietcong as a young girl. Their stories are typical of a generation whose lives and political thinking were shaped by the Vietnam War and its aftermath. They come from Vietnam, the USA or Europe. These are biographies which underwent a radical change because of the Vietnam War. The film attempts to understand their motivation, their deeds, their feelings and their suffering.