Our series on key names, genres, and movements to know about in fact-based film and television moves on to look at the Vietnam War and the blurring of the line between fact and fiction…

Vietnam War: fact vs. fiction

While not all films depicting aspects of the Vietnam War are based on actual events, even “original narratives” about the war are often heavily inspired by the experiences of those involved in the conflict.

An example is Full Metal Jacket (1987), which was based upon the semi-autobiographical novel The Short Timers (1979) by Gustav Hasford, who co-wrote the script. Hasford also served in the US Marine Corps as a war correspondent (the job of the fictional protagonist, Pvt. Joker).

A second co-writer on Full Metal Jacket was Michael Herr, who was involved in another key Vietnam War film, Apocalypse Now (1979). The uncredited source material is Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness (1899). However, the film is renowned for bringing the nightmare of Vietnam to life, as much as it is for its actual production, which inspired its own documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991).

For Apocalypse Now, Herr wrote the narration spoken by protagonist Capt. Willard. Herr was a war correspondent, who recounted his experiences in Dispatches (1977), which is considered by many the seminal non-fiction book about the conflict.

A further example of a filmmaker whose experiences in Vietnam influenced his work is Oliver Stone, who served in combat from 1967 to 1968, which he discusses in his memoir, Chasing the Light (2020).

Among his lengthy filmography is a Vietnam War trilogy – Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Heaven & Earth (1993). Of these, the latter two are based on autobiographical source material, while the first is based upon his own experiences. The source material for Heaven & Earth are the books When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (1989) and Child of War, Woman of Peace (1993), both by Le Ly Hayslip. We’ll talk a bit more about Born on the Fourth of July in the next section.

Vietnam War films based on actual events

Within the collection of Vietnam War films, there are some that explicitly fictionalize events which happened during the wider Southeast Asia conflict. These include:

The Killing Fields (1984)

Based on: ‘The Death and Life of Dith Pran: A Story of Cambodia’ by Sydney Schanberg The New York Times Magazine (20 January 1980) – there’s also an ebook version of the article available to purchase.

Directed by Roland Joffé and written by Bruce Robinson, the story concerns Sydney Schanberg, a New York Times reporter covering the civil war in Cambodia (1967-75) who strikes up a friendship with Dith Pran, a local journalist, whose life is threatened by the Khmer Rouge when he becomes trapped in the country.

The film adopts an effective realist style that reveals the atrocities taking place in Cambodia, while focussing on the strong personal friendship at its centre. It’s not strictly a Vietnam War film but it does centre on a conflict that was a product of the war. It is a multiple Oscar-winner, including Best Supporting Actor for Haing S. Ngor, who actually lived through his country’s civil war. Read more in our full analysis.

Hamburger Hill (1987)

One of the lesser-known of the Vietnam War films, this tells of a squad of 14 US army soldiers, which becomes embroiled in a bloody 10-day battle to take Hill 937 from the North Vietnamese. Directed by John Irvin and written by Jim Carabatsos, this is a particularly strong example of how cinema can take audiences into the heart of the action to show men who are just trying to survive in the face of a relentless enemy. Take a look at the trailer:

Casualties of War (1989)

Based on: Material first published in the New Yorker (18 October 1969). It was also turned into a non-fiction book, Casualties of War by Daniel Lang (2014).

This harrowing drama focuses on a young soldier who is ostracised from his squad when he refuses to be complicit in the kidnap, rape and murder of a young Vietnamese girl. He then faces a fight to bring his fellow soldiers to justice.

The film from director and Brian De Palma and screenwriter David Rabe offers a look at how war can lead men into abhorrent, criminal behaviour and also at how the Vietnamese were treated by some of the US soldiers. More than that, the film is a stark reminder of the realities of war.

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Based on: The autobiographical book, Born on the Fourth of July, by Ron Kovic (1976)

Script source: Daily Script

Referenced above, the second in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam trilogy tells of Ron Kovic, an enthusiastic and idealistic young Marine from small town USA who later becomes a passionate anti-war campaigner after he is severely wounded in battle and endures dehumanising treatment at a veterans’ hospital.

Possibly the most affecting of all the Vietnam films, this doesn’t just depict the horrors of the battlefield but the similar horrors faces by wounded soldiers. The scenes in the VA hospital are especially harrowing, as Kovic is reduced to a shell of his former self, before finding new meaning in his life as an outspoken advocate for human rights and for ending the war. The film won two Oscars, including for Stone’s direction.

We Were Soldiers (2002)

Based on: The non-fiction book, We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang – the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway (1992)

Written and directed by Randall Wallace, this tells of the experiences of Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, who led a battalion into Ia Drang, the US’ first major battle of the Vietnam War. While the film contains many bloody, visceral scenes of battle, the story is balanced by showing the impact on the soldiers’ families back home and also on the Vietnamese, who are portrayed as more than just a faceless enemy. Take a look at the trailer:

Final thoughts

Vietnam war films are, collectively, a strong example of blurring fact and fiction, as filmmakers try to mine out some kind of truth from a conflict which made little sense to many of those involved. These films contribute to an overall understanding of the conflict from multiple perspectives, harnessing the unique attributes of cinema to show us the realities on the ground and the many impacts of war.

In the “making of” feature included in the DVD of the 2015 re-release of his Vietnam War documentary, Hearts and Minds (1974), director Peter Davis said of fictionalizing the war:

“…because it was such a nightmare…, I began to see that a fiction filmmaker can… get his or her own truth, certainly every bit as much as I was hoping to find the truth in Vietnam.”

Filmography

Here is a non-exhaustive list of fictional Vietnam War films to explore, which cover a wide range of experiences and genres.

• The Green Berets (1968)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Coming Home (1978)
• Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
• Platoon (1986)
• Unnatural Causes (1986)
• Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
• Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
• Rescue Dawn (2006)
• Tropic Thunder (2008)
• The Last Full Measure (2019)
• Da 5 Bloods (2020)