phd_travel It's quite amazing how much was captured on film and photographs and it's put together so well that it almost seems like one was watching a movie of the fall of Saigon - it feels so complete. There are interesting interviews with witnesses mainly military personnel both US and South Vietnamese.Unlike a typical Vietnam war movie this covers a different angle - not about fighting the war but the end of the war. There is criticism of Ambassador Graham Martin's refusal to organize an evacuation till it was too late leading the the chaos that took place. Would have liked to know more of his reasons for being so obstinate and the diplomatic failure at the end.One minor fault is subtitles are in white sometimes against a white background and so hard to make out.This makes one want a follow up on what happened to those left behind beyond the words of epilogue at the end.

asc85 One of the ways I personally classify whether a documentary based on famous real-life events is good or not is whether I learn something new about it. For example, I didn't think the Robert McNamara movie, "The Fog of War" was good, because it just regurgitated things I already knew about Vietnam. Last Days in Vietnam, however, showed me new things that I didn't know about and found interesting. I won't list them all here, but the most fascinating thing for me (and they even had footage of it!), was all the South Vietnamese helicopters that landed on the aircraft carrier to leave the country, and because they couldn't store the helicopters anywhere, the military had to push them into the ocean so the next one could land.As an American who grew up during this time, Vietnam is still a raw experience for many of us. It was refreshing to see how many Americans felt responsible for the South Vietnamese, and tried to get as many of them out of there. You never really hear very much about those kinds of stories.Because of her family name, Rory Kennedy carries lots of baggage, mostly good, but some bad. However, along with the very personal documentary about her mother Ethel, she is proving to be very, very capable in this genre. I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.

Johan Dondokambey After building enough history to emphasize about the exodus event itself the movie nicely serves the incredible sub stories that happen during the incident. I really like the movie's approach of previously serving the interviews without giving out the speaker's names, building up the start of their opinions and then weave together all those sub stories into link to the greater story of the event. What makes this movie very good is that the movie makers were able to obtain many authentic footage and photographs that give visuals to the stories told by the interviews.This makes the movie deeply visual, without having to resort to other ways to invoke the drama and emotions.

kcme-32408 We were made aware of the documentary through our friendship with artist Binh Pho, one of the Vietnamese left behind in the embassy. He had shared his story many years ago and I had read his biography of how he escaped from Vietnam by Kevin Wallace; RIVER OF DESTINY. He told us about meeting with Rory Kennedy and his admiration for the Kennedy family. It was exciting to hear that he would be sharing some of his story in different places throughout the film. When it came to Dallas we went to the showing and we were taken back to our teenage years and all of the news and drama that Vietnam brought to our country. Seeing the real tragedy of what took place was very tense to watch. Living in the USA is such a blessing that so many of us take for granted, but shouldn't.