The granddaughter of a Vietnamese hero explores the enduring legacy of the Vietnam Warfare on her household and nation.
The 50-minute documentary 50 Years of Forgetting explores the enduring influence of the Vietnam Warfare on the lives of up to date Vietnamese. Prompted by a letter from an American veteran, filmmaker Mai Huyen Chi embarks on a private and nationwide investigation.
Chi’s quest begins by unravelling the story of her struggle hero grandfather who fought for the successful North, a determine shrouded in household silence. As that quickly meets its dissatisfying finish, she embarks on a journey throughout Vietnam and meets individuals whose lives have been formed by among the most traumatic occasions of the struggle: the Battle of Hue in 1968, the Christmas bombing in 1972 and the autumn of Saigon in 1975. Their experiences, stuffed with each resilience and loss, power Chi to confront her family’s buried truths. She discovers the story of her aunt married to a pilot on the shedding Southern facet who fled, highlighting the struggle’s fracturing influence on Vietnamese households throughout generations.
The exploration turns into deeply private. Chi confronts a harsh actuality: Her personal cousin suffers from the debilitating results of Agent Orange, a merciless consequence of the struggle that continues to inflict ache on numerous Vietnamese. By weaving these various narratives collectively, 50 Years of Forgetting transcends the Vietnam Warfare to discover common themes of battle and its enduring legacies. Will previous classes be forgotten? Can Vietnam construct a collective reminiscence that honours the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of individuals when those that endured years of brutality through the Vietnam Warfare try so arduous to overlook?
