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Sad Song of Yellow Skin

A film about the people of Saigon told through the experiences of 3 young American journalists who, in 1970, explored the consequences of war and of the American presence in Vietnam. It is not a film about the Vietnam War, but about the people who lived on the fringe of battle. The views of the city are arresting, but away from the shrines and the open-air markets lies another city, swollen with refugees and war orphans, where every inch of habitable space is coveted.
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A film about the people of Saigon told through the experiences of 3 young American journalists who, in 1970, explored the consequences of war and of the American presence in Vietnam. It is not a film about the Vietnam War, but about the people who lived on the fringe of battle. The views of the city are arresting, but away from the shrines and the open-air markets lies another city, swollen with refugees and war orphans, where every inch of habitable space is coveted.

War, Conflict and Peace Developing Countries All subjects
  • director
    Michael Rubbo
  • script
    Michael Rubbo
  • narrator
    Michael Rubbo
  • producer
    Tom Daly
  • camera
    Martin Duckworth
    Pierre Letarte
  • sound
    Pierre Letarte
  • editing
    Torben Schioler
    Michael Rubbo
  • sound editing
    Les Halman
  • re-recording
    George Croll
    Michel Descombes

Education

Ages 15 to 17

Notes

Students can study the effects of war on culture. What aspects of a people make them unified and unique? How do war and destruction affect how people identify themselves? Have the students ever gone through a struggle with a group of people and experienced a sense of togetherness afterward? Ask them to identify elements of their daily lives that would help them cope with loss of their family members, homes, etc. What people and things do they hold dear? Who/what could they live without?

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Sad Song of Yellow Skin
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