The granddaughter of a Vietnamese hero explores the enduring legacy of the Vietnam War on her family and country.
The 50-minute documentary 50 Years of Forgetting explores the enduring impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of contemporary Vietnamese. Prompted by a letter from an American veteran, filmmaker Mai Huyen Chi embarks on a personal and national investigation.
Chi’s quest begins by unravelling the story of her war hero grandfather who fought for the winning North, a figure shrouded in family silence. As that soon meets its dissatisfying end, she embarks on a journey across Vietnam and meets people whose lives were shaped by some of the most traumatic events of the war: the Battle of Hue in 1968, the Christmas bombing in 1972 and the fall of Saigon in 1975. Their experiences, filled with both resilience and loss, force Chi to confront her own family’s buried truths. She discovers the story of her aunt married to a pilot on the losing Southern side who fled, highlighting the war’s fracturing impact on Vietnamese families across generations.
The exploration becomes deeply personal. Chi confronts a harsh reality: Her own cousin suffers from the debilitating effects of Agent Orange, a cruel consequence of the war that continues to inflict pain on countless Vietnamese. By weaving these diverse narratives together, 50 Years of Forgetting transcends the Vietnam War to explore universal themes of conflict and its enduring legacies. Will past lessons be forgotten? Can Vietnam build a collective memory that honours the sacrifices of millions of people when those who endured years of brutality during the Vietnam War are trying so hard to forget?
