Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
"Vietnam, a nation suffering from the wounds of war. This candid Soviet Documentary exposes the problems the war left in its wake and the solutions the Vietnamese are implementing. No one can sit idly back and view the infamous tiger cages, or see our men directing the torture of men, women, and children; but that is a past problem; it is the present that challenges. How can this beautiful nation provide land, food, clothing, and shelter for its population? What is to be done about the legacy of drug addiction, orphans, prostutution and the black market? Over 800,000 orphans were created by this war. Countless numbers of children were kidnapped by the foreign invader. A museum devoted to this inhuman act has been established. Vietnamese long for the day when their families will be reuinted...How fast can a nation build rebuild an irrigation network that had been built up over a 2,000 year span?" Etc., etc. Propaganda.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Excellent footage of the Northern Vietnamese "liberation" of Saigon, April 30, 1975 (Fall of Saigon) : tanks roll onto the grounds of the Presidential Palace; North Vietnamese soldiers storm the palace and wave North Vietnamese (Viet Cong) flags from balcony. Newsreel of large celebratory processions that followed: banners, flag waving, cheering, a picture of Ho Chi Minh, military personnel and weaponry on display, etc; spirit evocative of USSR processions. Title screen follows in Russian "The War is Over, the Struggle Continues".
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Aerials and EST shots of Poulo Condor Island (Con Son Islands). Footage of abandoned boats, docks, and prison structures built by (French?) colonialists-- includes tiger cages, where narrator says Vietnamese were stuffed in large number; Tiger Cages were nothing more than a cell below floor level, with clean concrete walls and floor, its top covered by a frame of barbed wire. Shots of rusted shackles. A series of photographs of Vietnamese prisoners, many of whom are women, tacked onto a bulletin board. Shots of inscriptions of hope, faith, and fighting spirit scratched onto the prison walls, some of which are scrawled in blood (written in Vietnamese). MCU pink flowers growing through cement walls of prison.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on S. Vietnamese opposition leaders who survived colonial prisons for opposing the S. Vietnamese government. EST shots of former Saigon military tribunal building, abandoned Jeeps, uniforms & boots still outside. Nice MS communist soldiers standing at gate, flag of Vietnam painted on wall nearby. Various shots people looking at an outdoor display of instruments of war and torture - a guillotine is one of the devices on display. Interview with young people about their expereinces at Poulo Condor, the top political prison.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Captured (by North Vietnamese) newsreel footage of American (and South Vietnamese) soldiers, weaponry, and operations: panning shot fighters on tarmac; barbed wire between S. Vietnamese soldier's boots; anti-aircraft missile nest; radar nest; American soldiers load and aim a small artillery gun from nest; black American GI aims an M-60 machine gun from a foxhole; American paratroopers deploy from transport. VO says that millions of dollars were spent by the Pentagon to use Vietnam as a weapons testing ground, that millions of "bitter brain-washed" American troops were sent over.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Vietnam War footage: shaky TLS GIs walking through field; MCU Vietnamese woman breast feeding her child while on the run; an APC slogs through rice paddy; GIs patroling along path, burning items on side; a GI sends a German Shepherd scout dog through a foxhole, the dog emerging unscathed at the other end; a (staged?) stuggle between a woman and ARVN soldier; a young man is interrogated by ARVN soldiers; a VC suspect is drowned during interrogation by ARVN soldier; CU Vietnamese woman crying; old man and woman pray for mercy to camera, hands clasped in Buddhist plea; dead VC suspect in grass; agonizing CU Vietnamese boy crying, bringing hand to face. VO explains this is the usual way of imperialism, the spilling of blood.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Brief interview with a 20 year old Viet Cong company commander. Shot of tunnel system, soldiers entering & exiting. MS piles of ammunition which the narrator explains was taken in raids by the Vietnamese, raids made possible by their tunnel routes. Two young men make grenade launchers out of the stolen ammunition. Assorted shots of former guerillas congregating and walking about camp. CUs faces of communist Vietnamese soldiers.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on Vietnamese villagers taking on new ways of life. Panning CU strand of barbed wire; MS children standing at barbed wire. A woman teaches hamlet children - footage of her conducting a group of girls in song (probably a Communist pride song, too). An elderly man returns to farming - footage of him plowing & farming a rice paddy with help of a water buffalo, then eating with his wife outside their home. Footage of a son reunited with his mother: they discuss other family members who have died. A former peasant returns to his land and builds a house; constructs the housing frame.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on a former Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, "the puppet army") soldiers who have been pardoned by the Vietnamese government: an officer is shown at home, a point is made about showing his entire family - no one was taken out in reprisal for his treacherous activity - he feeds his fowl, photos of him in uniform during the war.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on a (indoctrination) camp for former ARVN colonels, all of whom wear black pajama uniforms - an interview with a pardoned officer in the camp, footage of a Vietnam history class for the colonels, a group singing some patriotic anthem during which the narrator says the purpose of the camp is to separate those who merely went astray from real enemies of the people - a colonel is interviewed and decribes his murderous missions sponsored by the CIA (Operation Phoenix).
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Footage of the offices of "Dictator" Nguyen Van Thieu at the Presidential Palace in Saigon: lavishly decorated with elephants tusks, folk sculptures, stuffed tigers - the filming and narration focus on the "hypocrisy" and "treachery" of this South Vietnam leader.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Newsreel of massive South Vietnamese military memorial scultpures being toppled by Vietnamese communists in Saigon; cheering and flag waving. Footage of American military refuse left in Vietnam: abandoned tanks and helicopters in farm fields and cities; piles of ammunition and heavy metal scraps, many with english text on them including "Ford" and "U.S. Army"; children sit atop abandoned tank; men clear away the debris and take them to factories to be recycled; piles of junk and twisted metal scrap. Footage of automobile (diesel) engine manufacturing shop where men work at lathes; brief interview with some workers.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on peasant class reconstruction. Footage of Vietnamese people laboring in rice fields, hoeing, plowing, hacking, cultivating muddy ground. Footage of people on muddy river, fishing; an interview on a boat with a woman leading the reconstuction efforts. Footage of a man nimbly climbing a palm tree and pulling off a coconut; a young woman chops at the husk of the fruit with a machete; a man drinks the milk.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Brief segment on a former underground communist party leader who has since the war's end turned his focus to local social needs. Great shot USSR flag on wall with portrait of Ho Chi Minh below it. Footage of a rice distribution center where people wait in line for rice; nice shots of villagers in line.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Footage of a Vietnamese textile mill where women work with weaving machines, large cotton spools, fold sheets of patterned material - an interview with the mill foreman is interspersed. Nice CUs looming cotton, industrial style.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Footage of a classroom where adults learn to read Vietnamese; adult education. Footage of a paper mill factory where women package school exercise books. MSs adults doing Tai Chi in public park, their bodys move smoothly in unison. LSs ferry sailing in Saigon; MSs ferry driver. Busy Saigon streets, street vendors, crowds, people cruisng on bicycles and mopeds; people eating outside at food kiosks. Communist soldiers patrol streets, happily chatting with people. Great bustling crowd shots.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Saigon shanty towns on the water. Various shots sampans (junk boats) docked. Poverty. Dilapidated houses in filthy water and the people who live there. The narrator says this footage will be an indictment against imperialism as Americans occupied this city with all their money and did nothing to better such squalid living conditions. Cut to high angle view of Saigon from a luxurious tall building, a former holding of one of the "Bosses of Saigon", the dirty capitalists. Cut to footage of business district: merchants, street scenes, signs, buildings, etc: EST shots Bastos, Hotel Phent, etc; a shrine to the god of profit; street vagrants, beggars & homeless people on street. Tour of Saigon slums, children running about filthy streets & buildings.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on the social corruption caused by the compradors, post 1975: an invalid man makes tea in a dark room; male & female prostitutes & street walkers & petty thieves outside a Saigon nightclub; male drug users getting high in an opium den, packing a pipe and smoking; young male & female drug addicts high on opium meandering in streets; people bottling and selling gasoline in glass bottles on street.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Footage of patriotic communist street marches against the comprador bourgousie in Saigon. Communist leaders hold forums to explain the new standards of material distribution to the populace. Establishing street reforms. Cu man's hands as he talks animatedly to group.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on the Vietnamese youth after the war: TLS/MS homeless child sleeping on bench in Saigon; little children smoke cigarettes, play cards, sell and barter goods in alleyways; a youth labor reform camp is shown where a chain of boys pass heavy rubble down the line; MS girl in black pajamas standing at barbed wire fence; girls wash laundry in a river; a boy uses a bullet to sculpt an animal out of mud.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Segment on an exhibit about the failed April 4, 1975 American mission to airlift orphaned Vietnamese children to the United States for adoption - the plane crashed, 150 people killed. A family sadly views the exhibit which shows photographs of children and wreckage and displays articles of clothing and toys recovered from the crash.
Vietnam: The War Is Over, The Struggle Begins
Street parade of young gleaming Ho Chi Minh pioneers; singing happily, these Communist youth. Followed by various beauty shots of Vietnam, city (inc. iconic picture of Ho Chi Minh on building) and countryside (inc. people sowing land, planting rice). Credits roll.