Vietnamese Protest Stereotypes In Movies

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Hollywood has triumphed where the U.S. military has failed - turning the Vietnam War into an all-American affair.

When Vietnamese who fought alongside U.S. troops watch films about the Vietnam War, many wonder why they've been written out of the script.

They say films such as the current box-office hit ``Born on the Fourth of July,'' as well as ``Platoon'' and ``Casualties of War,'' give the impression that most Vietnamese were anti-American, that Vietnamese soldiers were corrupt or cowardly and that Vietnamese women were bar girls or rape victims.

``It's as if we didn't exist,'' says Dinh Nguyen, a former major in the South Vietnamese Marines who had both legs shattered by machine-gun fire in the last days of the war.

``We took a million casualties, and our side has been cut out of the films. All you see are Americans battling the Viet Cong.''

Nguyen, 48, of Santa Ana, said Hollywood should take into account the sacrifice of the Vietnamese who also lost family members during the war and had to flee from their country after the communist takeover in 1975.

The largest Vietnamese community in the world outside Vietnam lives within driving distance of Hollywood - about 200,000 refugees in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Yet from watching war movies, it's as if this community - the South Vietnamese who opposed the communist North - was invisible.

In almost every motion picture, the Vietnamese countryside serves as a backdrop for a U.S.-sponsored war between young GIs and silent, shadowy jungle fighters.

Aspects of Vietnamese culture are ignored, and in some movies the actors portraying Vietnamese speak Chinese or Tagalog.

The two most prominent Vietnamese in ``Full Metal Jacket'' are a pimp and a prostitute who ride to the battlefield on a motorcycle to solicit troops.

In ``Casualties of War,'' a squad of soldiers abducts a village girl and rapes her. When a soldier reports the incident, he is told by his commanding officer to forget about it.

And in ``Born on the Fourth of July,'' the hero, veteran Ron Kovic, played by Tom Cruise, condemns U.S. involvement in Vietnam as wrong and immoral.

Many Vietnamese fear that the events depicted by Hollywood will be accepted by generations of Americans as truth.

``I don't like to go to these movies,'' said Le Khac Ly, a former colonel in the South Vietnamese army who lives in Fullerton, Calif. ``They are all bad and not even close to reality. They play down the role of the South Vietnamese and romanticize the Viet Cong.''

Like many refugees who have settled in Orange County since the fall of Saigon, Ly, 56, spent a good part of his adult life fighting the communists - he joined the South Vietnamese army in 1954 long before the U.S. troops entered the war.

The films fail to explain the 30-year history of the war, Ly said.

``It's an insult, a shame to portray the country in such a shallow way,'' said Le Tuan, an actor in several Vietnam War films. ``I lost two brothers in the war.''

Nguyen, the Marine wounded before Saigon fell in 1975, said he's dismayed by the hatred U.S. soldiers show in most films toward Vietnamese, who are often called

``gooks.''

When Nguyen escaped Vietnam in 1984, a Marine who roomed with him in 1965 at officer training school in Quantico, Va., came to the rescue.

Former Lt. Col. Richard Donaghy sponsored Nguyen and let him live rent-free for 3 1/2 years until Nguyen's family arrived from Vietnam.

``We're like brothers,'' Nguyen said of Donaghy. ``Not like the Americans and Vietnamese shown in the films.''

Nguyen said he can understand why Hollywood makes commercial movies with American heroes, but he can't understand why Hollywood has stereotyped the Vietnamese.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Hollywood's treatment of women.

Kieu Chinh, South Vietnam's most famous actress, said she feels ashamed playing demeaning roles but can't find better parts.

``I haven't portrayed a real Vietnamese woman yet,'' said Chinh, who has acted in more than a half-dozen Vietnam War films. ``I have words coming out of my mouth that no Vietnamese woman would say.''

In ``Hamburger Hill,'' she played the proprietor of a Vietnamese whorehouse that catered to American GIs. She had to smile pretty and serve drinks to the soldiers who came to cavort with the girls.

``I wish I could be like other actresses and say no to bit parts,'' Chinh said. ``I feel very bad accepting parts I don't want. But in my situation as a refugee who has struggled here for 15 years, I can't refuse.''

Chinh said she wishes a director, such as Oliver Stone, would produce a movie about the Vietnamese.

Stone, a Vietnam veteran who directed ``Platoon'' and ``Born on the Fourth of July,'' has an option on a book by Vietnamese writer Le Ly Haslip about her experiences with the Viet Cong and Americans during the war.

Stone said he visited Vietnam last year and would like to film Haslip's story there as soon as the United States lifts its trade embargo.

The Vietnamese have not appeared in a good light, Stone said, because filmmakers have focused on the U.S. side and concentrated on the fighting, which often took place in villages where it was impossible for troops to tell if the people were pro-American or pro-Viet Cong.

Former Marine Capt. Russ Thurman, who has served as a consultant on more than a dozen Vietnam films, said the poor reputation of South Vietnamese soldiers is one reason they're treated harshly in films.

``When I was in Vietnam, I did not particularly hold the South Vietnamese troops in high regard,'' Thurman said. ``They were not gung ho. Their attitude was to pull back and wait till tomorrow.''

But Al Santoli, a Vietnam veteran who served with South Vietnamese troops and is married to a Vietnamese, said Hollywood could take a more balanced approach.

``It's quite obvious to me that the message of the films is Vietnam was wrong and that the whole effort was a waste,'' said Santoli, author of two books about the war, ``To Bear Any Burden'' and ``Everything We Had.''

``They don't show much respect for the Vietnamese.''

Kovic, the paralyzed veteran whose life story is portrayed in ``Born on the Fourth of July,'' agrees.

``Hollywood must change its image of Vietnamese,'' Kovic said. ``The whole picture has not been seen. The canvas is only half full.''

Most Vietnamese say the films about the war reinforce Kovic's view without any chance of rebuttal.

Long Le, a high-school teacher, said the movies create a false impression for youth, especially Vietnamese children born and raised in the United States.

He said the Vietnam he sees on the screen is not the Vietnam he remembers.

``To show the country in such a bad light, to ignore the Vietnamese who fought against the communists reinforces the image that the war should never have been fought.''