The Last Days in Vietnam is a documentary that covers the last weeks of the Vietnam War in April 1975. In the film, an order by the president has commanded all American troops to evacuate Vietnam. This works well on the North Vietnamese side as the Americans leaving means that the South Vietnamese citizens are left unprotected. This presents the American troops a conundrum: whether to leave and go back home to their families or stay and prevent the genocide of the southerners.
The film leaves a mark in the heart of its audience as it not only encases the war efforts by the veterans as they choose to fight while evacuating but also provides us with an in-depth look at the effect of the Cold War, a war against communism with the bigger powers being Russia and America. It was thought by many as the most unjustified war of all time, which led to the 1960s peace movement. This is because the war started out with France trying to withhold its colonies in Indochina before turning into a full-blown war. If anything, the war was supposed to be between France and its colonies without any outside interference.
On one side, we have the North Vietnamese led by the communist Ho Chi Minh, who started out as guerilla fighters against the French invaders and turned into a well-trained and provisioned army backed by Russia and China. The war began sometime after the Second World War. During this time, Russia and China were against the US, which is ironic considering that barely a year prior, all these powers were supporting the Vietnamese against the invading Japanese.
On the other side is the anti-communist Bao Dai, who was the emperor and, by right, the ruler of Vietnam but instead was nothing more than a puppet, first serving as an administrator under the Japanese and then as an advisor under Ho Chi Minh. It, therefore, didn’t serve him to be the rightful ruler of Vietnam as he would flee the country any time the situation escalated, fleeing to China and France and showing no interest in the affairs surrounding his country unless they served to his advantage.
In theory, the Vietnam War was not a fight against the anti-communist regime of Ho Chi Minh’s regime, considering that he fought for the independence of his country against the French while the rightful emperor was always somewhere abroad. It was an opportunity for the powers that be to showcase their new inventions. Vietnam was the brewing pot of the Cold War, with both America and Russia revolutionizing aerial warfare.
Even though it was a different depiction of how history went down, the film heavily relied on the accounts of the American troops. This film was, therefore, a blow to the Vietnamese people as they did not have the chance to fully express the effects of the war on them and how they turned against each other. To the rest of the world, the film reaffirms the importance of the peace movement.
In conclusion, the film depicts a partial understanding of the Vietnam War. Its main goal was to create awareness of the war efforts by the American troops, which is great considering that war veterans are mostly regarded as second-hand citizens. However, the rest of the world might think of it as a cliché. They are probably viewing Americans as insurgents themselves, as most of the wars involving the US usually involve them being the invaders.
Reference
Kennedy, R. (2017). Last days in Vietnam.
