Documentary on Indochina war to be released in Vietnam

A new documentary on the Indochina War (1946- 1954) will feature points of view from both Vietnamese and French veterans.

Local director Dao Thanh Tung has just completed shooting the final scenes of his four-part documentary “Chien Tranh Dong Duong” (The Indochina War) in France.

The film is expected to be released in Vietnam soon after completion.

Tung traveled across Vietnam country to find survivors of the war.

Tung, who worked on his script for more than one year, hopes that his film will offer a new, two-sided perspective on the war and those involved.

One of the difficulties he encountered during the filmmaking process was relying on elderly survivors with fading memories to recount the story precisely.

The film crew had to interview several witnesses about the same event to compare their stories and piece together the truth.

Through his extensive research and interviews, Tung learned that of the roughly 65 million victims of World War II, 2.5 million were Vietnamese, most of whom died of famine.

Another issue which the documentary addresses is war prisoners.

Hanoi’s Ba Vi District used to be home to a small community of African war prisoners, who were forced to work on a farm.

When the Vietnam War (1954-1975) began, they were set free. Years later, many of them returned to visit the farm.

Many of the former prisoners now live in Lyon City, France. When interviewed by the film crew, they expressed their positive impressions of the Vietnamese people they met during the war and never complained about their time in captivity.

The Indochina War erupted in 1946 between French forces and Viet Minh troops, which were led by late President Ho Chi Minh and late legendary general Vo Nguyen Giap.

Most of the fighting took place in northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring then-French protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.

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