Vietnam saga to screen at Ron Robinson

There will be a free showing of Rory Kennedy's Oscar-nominated documentary Last Days in Vietnam at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave. Admission is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served, and the doors will open at 1:30 p.m.

The film, which runs 100 minutes, tells the story of the end of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, which began winding down when the 1973 Paris Peace Accords forged a tenuous ceasefire and limited U.S. military involvement to the presence of approximately 6,000 noncombat troops and advisers. While President Richard Nixon promised a swift military response should the North Vietnamese violate the agreement, his abrupt departure from the White House in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal left behind a Congress reluctant to fund the war.

By March 1975, the North Vietnamese Army had surrounded the capital, Saigon, and were preparing for a final assault. As the inevitability of a communist victory became clear, the U.S. diplomats and military operatives still in Saigon grew increasingly concerned for the safety of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers and friends. Even the most ambitious U.S. evacuation plan allowed for the transport of just a few thousand South Vietnamese refugees. By April 25, the number of people in Saigon wishing to flee swelled far beyond that projection.

Yet even as the North Vietnamese troops drew nearer, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin refused to discuss an evacuation, for fear of panicking the South Vietnamese population. With the city under attack, American officers were faced with a moral dilemma: follow official policy and evacuate U.S. citizens and dependents only, or ignore orders and help as many South Vietnamese as possible escape. Many elected to do the latter.

On April 29, after the airport in Saigon was bombed, leaving few options for evacuation, there was a desperate scramble at the besieged U.S. Embassy in Saigon, as thousands of South Vietnamese scaled the walls in hopes of securing a last-minute evacuation. As desperation rose and time grew short, Ambassador Martin used American resources meant for his own protection to extract thousands of South Vietnamese during an airlift from the embassy compound.

The film's television premiere is 8 p.m. April 28 on AETN. It will also be available on DVD and Blu-ray on that date.

MovieStyle on 03/20/2015

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