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The Sound of the Violin in My Lai
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Wikipedia article
'The Sound of the Violin in My Lai' (Vietnamese: Ting v cm M Lai) is a short film that examines the history and legacy of the My Lai massacre, an incident of the Vietnam War in which hundreds of Vietnamese civilians were massacred by U.S. Army soldiers. The film investigates the effects of the massacre, with the story centering on the return of American soldiers Hugh Thompson and Larry Colburn to My Lai on the 30th anniversary of the event.Oliver, Kendrick. 'The My Lai Massacre in American History and Memory'. 2006, page 277-8
The film was commissioned by the Vietnamese government. It garnered director Tran Van Thuy the Best Documentary Prize at the Asia Pacific Film Festival in year 2000.
The violin referenced in the title is that of American Vietnam veteran and peace activist Roy Boehm.
Plot
The film is about the massacre that occurred in Sn M on the morning of March 16, 1968, when the US army killed 504 civilians within 4 hours. Despite its dark theme, the film conveys a message of hope and redemption - and the message of forgetting the past and looking towards the future. The main violinist is a US Air Force veteran, Mike Boehm.
Boehm returned to Vietnam in an attempt to atone for atrocities committed by the US military against the people of Sn M. One of Boehm's pursuits is playing the violin - both for living people and for the souls of the dead.
The film was shown on Vietnamese television on the 30th anniversary of the massacre. On the same day, US Ambassador Pete Peterson and former President Bill Clinton apologized to the Vietnamese people for this massacre.
Awards
References
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