Pham Thanh's continuing war

Connections: Thanh's War
8.30 p.m. Friday, February 5, SBS Television (8 p.m. Adelaide)
Reviewed by Stephen Robson

Pham Thanh was 12 years old in December 1968, when his family were killed as US soldiers attacked the Vietnamese village of Binh Phu, near Danang. Thanh himself was injured -- his oesophagus severed by a grenade.

Eventually Thanh is sent to the US, where he is adopted by a foster family and brought up in Berkeley, California. The film focuses on the conflict between Thanh's two worlds -- his new life in the US and his repeated return to Vietnam in the '80s as he attempts to discover all he can about his family.

Accompanied by US film maker Elizabeth Farnsworth, Thanh's latest trip is made to marry a young woman from his home village, a marriage carefully arranged by one of his aunts.

The US blocking of normalisation of relations with Vietnam is brought out strongly as Thanh and his new wife have to live in separate countries, at best having to wait several years before she is allowed to migrate to the US.

Thanh's War has won a number of awards in the United States, including a CINE Golden Eagle.

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