During the Vietnam War, US planes sprayed a defoliant called Agent Orange all over the Vietnamese countryside to look for North Vietnamese troops, and it caused widespread birth defects among the Vietnamese. Courtney Marsh's Academy Award-nominated "Chau, Beyond the Lines" looks at a victim of this. The protagonist is a boy in what is called an Agent Orange Camp, a hospital for children with birth defects. Although the documentary focuses mainly on this one boy, it shows that every child in the hospital has deformities of some sort. The protagonist spends much of his free time drawing pictures, but he can't ignore the most prominent thing about him.
The documentary serves as a stark reminder that while the Vietnamese defeated the US in 1975, the war's aftereffects remain with them to this day. It was only in the 21st century that the US even started talking with Vietnam about helping clean up the residual Agent Orange in the countryside.
Anyway, definitely watch the documentary. You can find it on Vimeo.
The documentary serves as a stark reminder that while the Vietnamese defeated the US in 1975, the war's aftereffects remain with them to this day. It was only in the 21st century that the US even started talking with Vietnam about helping clean up the residual Agent Orange in the countryside.
Anyway, definitely watch the documentary. You can find it on Vimeo.