Last Days
in Vietnam

April, 1975. During the chaotic final days of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon, South Vietnamese resistance crumbled. City after city and village after village fell to the North while the U.S. diplomats and military operatives still in the country contemplated withdrawal. With the lives of thousands of South Vietnamese hanging in the balance, those in control faced an impossible decision—who would go and who would be left behind to face brutality, imprisonment, or even death.

But as President Ford’s administration considered withdrawal, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese became terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock, and by an inexplicably optimistic U.S. ambassador, who steadfastly refused to discuss the possibility of evacuation, both for fear of panicking the South Vietnamese population, and out of a stubborn reluctance to admit defeat.

With the clock ticking and the city under fire, American officers on the ground found themselves faced with a moral dilemma: whether to follow official policy and evacuate only U.S. citizens and their dependents, or to break the law and save the men, women and children they had come to value and love in their years in Vietnam. At the risk of their careers and possible court-martial, a handful of individuals took matters into their own hands. Engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations, they waged a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible.

Watch
Amazon
YouTube
Apple TV

Directed by
Rory Kennedy

Trailer

Recognition
Academy Awards (2015)
Nominated, Best Documentary Feature
News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2016)
Nominated, Outstanding Editing
Primetime Emmy Awards (2015)
Nominated, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming
WGA Awards (2015)
Nominated, Best Documentary Screenplay
International Documentary Association (2014)
Nominated, Best Editing

Written by
Mark Bailey
Keven McAlester

Produced by
Susan Bellows / Series producer
Patricia Bischetti / Line producer
Nick Fraser / Series editor
Sharon Grimberg / Senior producer
Taylor Johns / Associate producer
Rory Kennedy / Producer
Keven McAlester / Producer
Susan Mottau / Coordinating producer
Lauren Prestileo / Series producer
Mark Samels / Executive producer

Press
“Masterpiece” —The New Yorker
“Deftly Woven...A Concise And Gripping Film” — The New York Times
“Astounding In Its Immediacy.” — Variety
"Both Heartrending And Inspiring"— The Hollywood Reporter
"Plays Like A Wartime Thriller" — The Washington Post
“A Documentary Triumph” — Newsday