In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the fall of the Republic of Vietnam, Netflix will release its landmark documentary series "Turning Point: The Vietnam War" on April 30, 2025.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Brian Knappenberger, the series features the expertise of Vietnamese-American producers, Doan Hoàng Curtis and Tommy Nguyen . Nguyen (multiple Emmy-nominated documentarian and former NBC News producer’s family fled Vietnam on April 20, 1975, and Hoàng Curtis directed and produced the award-winning of "Oh, Saigon: A War in the Family. Hoàng Curtis escaped during the final hours of the Republic on the last airport evacuation helicopter taking Vietnamese as the child of a Republic of Vietnam Air Force major.

This comprehensive series presents the Vietnam conflict through three perspectives, tracing foreign involvement from French colonization through American intervention, major, shocking, battles and social upheavals, the changing political leadership and viewpoints of both the Republic of Vietnam and US, the withdrawal of American support from the Republic, the final attempts to save the Republic of Vietnam, the difficult post-war years, and finally, the healing and reconciliation (including an admission of wrongdoing by a communist Vietnamese politician) that has emerged 50 years later. 

Turning Point: The Vietnam War offers revelatory insights into America's complex relationship with the Republic of Vietnam, including undisclosed-before details about President Diem's assassination, previously-classified White House recordings showing the intricate relationships between Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon who often kept their South Vietnamese allies from key diplomatic discussions and limiting access to crucial information, and President Thieu's painful, impassioned resignation speech following America's final withdrawal of support, leaving the country without defense. 

The series adeptly portrays both American and Republic of Vietnam perspectives through gripping firsthand accounts of the the devastating 1968 Tet Offensive and Hue Massacre, dramatic combat footage, the desperate final evacuations and the poignant end of the Republic. Viewers will bear witness via archival footage of the brutal realities faced by those imprisoned in re-education camps and follow perilous journeys of those who fled by helicopter, plane, and boat, while gaining remarkable new understanding of the covert military operations and espionage tactics employed by communist forces during their campaigns.

Distinguished voices from the Republic of Vietnam featured in the documentary include historian and former ARVN Colonel Pham Ba Hoa, who provides personal insights into the Diem assassination; journalists Vũ Thanh Thủy and Nancy Bùi, who reported on the Tet Offensive attacks and the Hue Massacre; and Chung Tử Bửu, a captured air force pilot who endured 14 years in communist prisons, and Hoàng Đức Nhã, an advisor of President Thiệu's who speaks candidly about Nixon’s back room treaty betrayals and the US abandonment of aid to the Republic of Vietnam.

The series also features Dr. Huỳnh Minh Tòng, and Janet Bùi, who experienced family separations as Hugh Van Es snapped the iconic rooftop helicopter photograph of them; authors Jackie Bông Wright and Lê Ly Hayslip; former Republic of Vietnam congressman and current American judge Nguyễn Trọng Nho who escaped the north as his kin was being killed in communist land reform. 

Additional context is provided by Vietnam scholars Liên-Hằng T. Nguyễn (Columbia University), Tường Vũ, (US-Vietnam Research Center), and USC professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Sympathizer, Việt Thanh Nguyễn.

Director: Brian Knappenberger. Episodes: 5. Genre: Documentary
Production: USA, Vietnam Language: English, Vietnamese with English subtitles

Produced by Đoan Hoàng Curtis, Tommy Nguyen, Bo Kovitz, and Keven McAllister
Executive Producers: Sarah Huisenga, Clare Tucker, Sabrina Parke