Oh, Saigon (2007)

• 71%
• 2007
• Documentary
• War
• Doan Hoang
• Nam Hoang
• Van Tran
• Anne Hoang

"If I could put my finger on the moment my family fell apart, it would April 30, 1975," says filmmaker Doan Hoang. On that day, Doan was on the last American helicopter taking civilians out of Saigon on the last day of the Vietnam War. Doan's older sister, Van, was left behind in the chaos while her family fled to the United States. Twenty-five years later, Doan returns to Vietnam to meet the people she left behind. She uncovers what became of her sister in the aftermath of the war. She also learns that her father, who had fought for South Vietnam, had two brothers he never told her about: a North Vietnamese Communist who fought against him, and an anti-war Southern army deserter. In order to heal her family, Doan must convince them to face their divided past and reconcile in Vietnam. Accompanied by gripping images from the war, Oh, Saigon is an intimate, fascinating portrait of a family the demonstrates the bitter consequences of split-second choices and the bitter legacy of war that lives long after the fighting stops.