TELLING STORIES: THE VIETNAM WAR DOCUMENTARY A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Rowana Agajanian Department of Creativity and Culture Buckinghamshire New University Brunel University September 2011 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author under the terms of the United Kingdom Copyright Acts. No quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. 1 Abstract ‘Telling Stories: The Vietnam War documentary’ is an original piece of research that addresses a much-neglected area in documentary film. The study encompasses twenty- six documentaries produced by ten different countries and examines them in terms of international perspectives, documentary form and function, and political debates. The first part of the thesis explores the international political context and the various rivalries and alliances that played a part in the conflict. The second part provides a detailed examination of the twenty-six documentaries providing both textual and contextual analysis. The third part is devoted to film theory and cultural theory. The study interrogates the challenge the Vietnam War documentary poses to current categorisation systems. It explores the complex nature of documentary - presenting an argument with evidence, representing reality and storytelling. Ethical issues with regard to the filming and exhibition of images that contain human suffering, dying and death are also considered by this study. A generic examination of these films reveals the Vietnam War documentary’s relationship with its predecessors of the First and Second World Wars and with other genres, both fiction as well as non-fiction. The study focuses on what is distinctive about the Vietnam War documentary and particular attention is given to the impact of the global media explosion as well as the significant contribution made by Western non-government-sponsored filmmakers. The thesis also examines these documentaries in terms of propaganda techniques, revolutionary Third Cinema and postcolonial debates concerning the Oriental and the ‘other’. ‘Telling Stories’ offers an expanded understanding of the Vietnam War documentary – politically, culturally and generically. It is not only a product of the war but of a much wider international political arena. The Vietnam War documentary has been influenced by national film cultures, traditions and developments in fictional as well as non- fictional cinema. This study reveals that the Vietnam War documentary is a vibrant genre that encompasses different documentary formats and aesthetic styles; as well as traditional, contemporary, and avant-garde techniques. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the following people at Buckinghamshire New University for their support: firstly, my supervisors - Professor Juliet Simpson, Dr Alison Tedman and Dr Colette Balmain; secondly, the university administrative staff in particular - Debra Harper, Laura Bray, Elik Borril, Sandie Richens, Howard Bush and Will Lishman. All these people have provided me with the means and the opportunity to pursue a long-time interest, and the vital academic and moral support to complete the same. I am also indebted to Lee Hai and Anh Phan for their help in translating Vietnamese narration and text, Mary Agajanian for help in translating French narration and text, Christel Schmidt of the Library of Congress, Washington, Siobhan Dee of the Australian Film Commission, Peter of International Historic Films, Mike Messenger of the USIA and Kathleen Dickenson of the British Film Institute for their assistance in providing documentary titles for this research. My thanks also to Janice Headland for her support and advice in obtaining information from the British Film Institute library. Finally, I would like to express my love and thanks to family and friends who have endured and supported me throughout the journey; with a special thank you to Heather Tracey for her patience, humour and excellent proof reading skills. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Acknowledgements 2 Introduction 4 Chapter One 42 International Perspectives Chapter Two Vietnam War Documentaries – Texts Part I – North Vietnam, South Vietnam and NLF 69 Part II – The Allies of North Vietnam 98 Part III – The Allies of South Vietnam 116 Part IV – Non-Government-Sponsored 144 Chapter Three Vietnam War Documentaries – Genre Part I – Form and Function 181 Part II – Conditions, Characteristics, and Visual Conventions 223 Part III – Politics, Propaganda, and Postcolonialism 261 Conclusion 298 Bibliography 310 Filmography 320 4 INTRODUCTION While British, American and German World War II documentaries continue to attract scholarly attention, academic studies concerning the Vietnam War documentary are scarce and limited to a handful of American films or recognized filmmakers. Yet a large number of film documentaries were produced during the Vietnam War, not only by the United States of America (USA), the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), but also by a variety of international filmmakers from countries such as Australia, Canada, Cuba, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Poland, Sweden and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). With only a handful of academic essays available on the subject, it is surprising to find that no comprehensive survey or in-depth analysis of the Vietnam War documentary has been provided to date. Moreover, there is no study devoted to the war documentary as a genre and few Vietnam War historians offer an international view of the conflict. Placing these films in context is only the first part of a much larger project aimed at exploring who produced these documentaries and why, as well as how these films tell their stories and what they tell us about the war. These films are highly revealing on a number of levels and they present us with a valuable opportunity to expand our knowledge of the Vietnam War and the Vietnam War documentary, as well as the war documentary and the documentary form. While this research proposes to make a significant contribution to the fields of Vietnam War history, documentary film history and theory, the author readily acknowledges that this research is but a first step rather than final word on the subject. 5 ‘Telling Stories’ has a dual purpose to examine the politics of war as well as the politics of representation. This research project is driven by a number of fundamental questions with the underlying hypothesis that the Vietnam War documentary is a complex genre that is not only a product of the war but also of a much wider international political context. In addition, it has been influenced by national film cultures, traditions and developments in fictional as well as non-fictional cinema and the media, in particular, television. The second hypothesis is that the Vietnam War documentary not only challenges current modes of documentary categorisation but is also a multi-faceted genre that requires alternative theoretical approaches in order to understand the wider significance of this body of texts. Using the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) directory, national collections were contacted and many offered assistance in obtaining the necessary titles for this research, including the American Library of Congress, the Australian Film Commission, the British Film Institute, and the National Film Board of Canada. Other private collections such as Third World Newsreel and International Historic Films, as well as educational institutions and organizations such as The Imperial War Museum and Educational Media On-line, also proved invaluable in providing titles for the study. This research examines twenty-six Vietnam War documentaries made during the conflict and produced by ten different countries: Australia, Canada, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), France, German Democratic Republic, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), UK, USA, and USSR. It is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of all the Vietnam War documentaries produced but rather an in- 6 depth generic, narrative, textual and contextual analysis using a broad selection of international documentaries.1 Parameters of the Thesis Many Western Vietnam War historians differ in their time-frames as to the exact beginning and ending of the war. Some Western historians refer to this period of American involvement as the ‘Second Indo-Chinese War’ or the ‘Second Vietnam War’. It should also be noted that Vietnamese historians refer to this period as the ‘American War’, but again, time-lines can differ.2 For the purposes of this study, however, the starting point chosen is 1965 as it coincides with the arrival of American fighting forces, and ends at 1975 with the fall of the South Vietnamese capital and the evacuation of the last American personnel from their embassy in Saigon. Not surprisingly there seems to be no definitive list of Vietnam War documentaries made during the war. Many documentary historians, such as Eric Barnouw and Richard Barsam, tend to highlight films they consider significant. The most extensive listing to date can be found in Linda Dittmar’s and Gene Michaud’s From Hanoi to Hollywood but even this listing has proved to be incomplete.3 While a number of familiar 1 Attempts to contact the national collections of China,