"The American War"
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Vietnam
The war museums in Hanoi showcase uncanny war remnants of fighter planes, and bombers, and tanks, and artillery. They also show different sets of images - a Vietnamese perspective of the Vietnam War, which they call the American War. It succinctly tells a harrowing story of a tiny nation’s fight for survival. It speaks of anguished cries, and torn limbs from small frames and chinky eyes; of carpet bombings and Napalm burnings on the civilian population. Then I came face to face with disfigured third and fourth generation Agent Orange victims in an orphanage. What a haunting sight! Like ghosts of a lost generation, they are breathing testaments to the atrocities of the past.
I have a stash of Vietnam in my drawer containing Born on the 4th of July, Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Saving Private Ryan, Deer Hunter and Full Metal Jacket. I watched these films cheering for my brothers, the G.I.s, menaced by Vietcongs in that hellhole -Vietnam.
It was all propaganda after all. Pure yarns making fallen heroes out of brainwashed troops. With one swoop all the prized DVDs flew off the window.
