Green Dragon
In 1975, refugee camps were set up across the deserts of the United States to house an exodus of over 100,000 Vietnamese immigrants before and immediately after the fall of Saigon. This is the story of the unlikely bond of friendship that forms between the Marine in charge of the camp and a new English-speaking Vietnamese arrival who acts as interpreter.
Dat Kho
A film about the effects of the war on a South Vietnamese family. The film covers the time periods of the Tet Offensive, the Buddhist uprisings in Hue, and the 1972 Summer of Fire.
The White Silk Dress
A Vietnamese film from 2007 about a family that flees from the North. The story takes place during and after French colonization. The white dress is given to one of the characters as a wedding gift before they were able to get married and eventually she is forced to sell the dress to support her family.
White Badge
The film takes place in 1979 when a writer, who was a volunteer soldier in Vietnam, writes a novel about the war and must deal with the awful memories he holds.
Love and Death in Saigon
A Hong Kong-made film about a soldier learning to fight during the war.
Bullet in the Head
An action film directed by John Woo about Hong Kong friends smuggling drugs and weapons into Vietnam. They are eventually caught by the Viet Cong and the story follows them as they try to escape.
Journey from the Fall
About a South Vietnamese family that attempts to escape to America after the US pulls out of the war. Members of the family are placed in Communist re-education camps and endure solitary confinement and years of forced labor. The film deals with South Vietnamese and American perceptions of the fall of Saigon and was banned in Vietnam for distorting history.
The Ugly American
A movie based on a book by the same title starring Marlon Brando. The movie is American-made and was filmed during the war. The story deals with South East Asian perceptions about the US and the general US arrogance towards the region. The country the story takes place in is fictional, though it alludes to Vietnam.
The Green Berets
An anti-communist, American film from 1968 starring John Wayne about a special forces unit fighting in Vietnam.
The Hanoi Hilton
A film made in 1987 about four American POWs in the infamous Ho Loa prison. The story is fictional but it is based on true stories of American POWs.
Full Metal Jacket
An American-made film by director Stanley Kubrick from 1987. The story follows a group of US soldiers from boot camp to the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and deals with the psychological consequences from the war on American soldiers. The film portrays the American military as being ill prepared to fight the North Vietnamese and illustrates the overall futility of the war.
Combat Shock
This film is about a Vietnam veteran who is disturbed by his experiences during the war and eventually goes insane. Overall the film is about the psychological trauma that soldiers dealt with after the war.
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter, a 1978 film starring Robert De Niro, follows three Russian-American infantrymen before, during, and after the war as they experience suicide, infidelity, and brutality.
Casualties of War
An American film made in 1989 starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn that deals with ethics and actual conduct during wartime. The story is about four soldiers who rape a Vietnamese girl and a fifth who is determined to expose the others.
MASH
MASH was a popular television series from the 1970s and early 1980s and a film made in 1970. Both were about army doctors at a surgery hospital in South Korea, though they alluded to the Vietnam War. They present a non-military perspective of the war as seen from civilians, doctors, and nurses, and focus on psychological issues and the general absurdity of war.
Heaven and Earth
The third film in Oliver Stone's trilogy about the Vietnam War. The story is about a Vietnamese girl who is raped by the Viet Cong but eventually falls in love with an American Soldier. The film takes place during and after the war and presents an idealized version of what could happen in certain instances.
Born on the Fourth of July
The second film in Oliver Stone's trilogy about the Vietnam War. The movie is based on the autobiography of a Vietnam veteran who was paralyzed during the war. After the war he becomes an anti-war political activist. Overall the film is about how many veterans were betrayed by the US government.
Platoon
The first film in Oliver Stone's trilogy about the Vietnam War and is based on his own experiences in Vietnam. The story is about a US citizen who volunteers for the war but eventually suffers disillusionment.
Apocalypse Now
A film based on Joseph Conrad's book, Heart of Darkness. The film presents an American perspective on the futility of war and how combat strips away humanity and challenges ethical considerations. The main character, a soldier, is ordered to find a Green Beret colonel who has supposedly gone insane and assassinate him.
Air America
Air America was a CIA airline established to transport people and weapons in Laos and Cambodia. The film was adapted from a non-fiction book about US pilots who try to foil a heroin smuggling operation by US officials.
Tunnel Rats
A film about "Tunnel Rats," US soldiers who went into Viet Cong tunnels to root out guerrillas. US soldiers found it difficult to find the tunnel networks and many were booby trapped.
The Quiet American
A film that takes place in Saigon in 1952, before the escalation of conflict, about an aid worker and a journalist who both get involved with a young Vietnamese mistress. The film is based on a book and was originally made in 1958 and remade in 2002.
Go Tell the Spartans
A film made in 1978 about American advisors in Vietnam when the US was still claiming there was no war in Vietnam. In the film the Vietcong are depicted as animal-like, brutal and without mercy.
Three Seasons
An American film made in 1999 about the early days of post-French Vietnam and the influences of Westernization. Specifically the story is about an American in Ho Chi Minh City looking for a daughter he fathered during the war.
Dien Bien Phu
A French film made in 1992 about the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The Vietnamese surprisingly won the battle after the French called for a ceasefire. After the battle, Vietnam was divided into North and South and French departure set the stage for American intervention in Vietnam. The director of the film is a veteran of the battle and was held as a POW by the Viet Minh.
The Scent of Green Papya
A Vietnamese-French film made in 1993 about a peasant girl who falls in love with a pianist. At a higher level the movie is about the imposition of French culture on the Vietnamese elite.
Indochine
A French film about a French plantation owner and her adopted Vietnamese daughter. The movie begins in the 1930s when the French controlled Indochina and ends when the French are driven out and Indochina divides into North and South.
