OH, SAIGON
The story of the last Vietnamese family to be airlifted out of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.
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The Story of Oh, Saigon
logline
Airlifted out of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, Doan Hoang’s family was on the last civilian helicopter out of the country at the end of the Vietnam War. Twenty-five years later, she sets out to uncover their story, discovering deep divisions with family on enemy lines.
short synopsis
Airlifted out of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, Doan Hoang’s family was on the last civilian helicopter out of the country at the end of the Vietnam War. Twenty-five years later, she sets out to uncover their story. The film follows her family as they return to Vietnam after decades of exile, where her father, a former South Vietnamese major, meets his brothers again to confront their political differences: one was a Communist, the other a pacifist. Meanwhile, Hoang tries to reconcile her own difficult past with her half-sister, who was mistakenly separated from the family during the escape.
“I didn’t have any more
roads to choose: to be
captured or killed by the
communists, or to take
my family to a place that
wasn’t our home.”
- Nam, the father
Your father left and has done nothing for Vietnam. He never loved his country.
- Uncle Hai, Nam’s communist brother
I got shot in battle.
I didn’t believe in capitalism or communism. But whenever you live under a government, they make you fight for them, like it or not.
- Uncle Dzung, Nam’s younger brother, whose wife and children slept in underground bunkers following him in battles.
Our mother, she loves me, but she loves herself more than she loves me.
- Van, the Half-Sister
But I didn’t have any more roads to choose. To accept being captured or possibly killed, or to take my family to another place, a place that wasn’t our home.
- Nam, the Father
“Your father left and has done
nothing for this country.”
- Uncle Hai, Nam’s Communist Brother
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