From the Vietnamese newspaper Thanh
Nien
On the documentary The Sound of The Violin in My Lai
Number 159 (1365),
Monday October 5, 1998.
"My name is Mike Boehm. I was born in 1947, in the year of the
Boar. I am the eldest in a family of seven children... I think there is
something common between my life and what has happened in My Lai..."
And so the story begins, through the sincere words of an American
who has fought in the war in Viet Nam. And it is, not from within him,
but from the floating fog of the Tra Khuc River (Quang Ngai) on a
morning in March that remote, misty memories of 30 years ago were told,
and they seem to take a life of their own in the Sound of the Violin in
My Lai.
The 30-minute documentary by Director Tran Van Thuy lays down the
visual story of not only the tragedy 30 years ago, which had terrified
humankind's commonsense, but also about what is going on today in My
Lai, which is now usually called by Vietnamese as Son My. Five hundred
and four people, mostly old people, pregnant women, children - innocent
people without a single piece of defensive weapon - were massacred by
American soldiers within four hours. It was a tragedy that was beyond
the boundaries of a country, and My Lai, the name the American Army used
to call Son My, has become known to the whole world. That is why the
film is called the Sound of the Violin in My Lai.
A story of forgiveness and of those who know how to deal
with sufferings. |
The documentary hinges on an event 30 years after it happened, and
was done with the help of the American broadcasting company CBS. Hugh
Thompson and Lawrence Colburn, two of the three soldiers who, on their
helicopter, tried to save the My Lai people, now returned to My Lai.
They came back after receiving the Soldier's Medal from the American
government, which is given to those who risk their lives to save
others'. It was true that they could have lost their lives, when Warrent
Officer Thompson lowered his helicopter and ordered gunman Colburn to
point at their own brutal troop and be ready to fire if they interfered
with the lifesaving act, while crew chief Andreotta walked through a sea
of the dead people's blood in order to save little boy Do Ba. Andreotta
was not to be present in My Lai 30 years later. He died three weeks
after the event. War has its own stern rules...
The American soldiers' faces, frame after frame, all seem to be
overwhelmed by enduring pain. The burden of the past seems to be
haunting still. When returning to meet those whose lives they had saved,
these Americans ought to feel peaceful, and happy. But perhaps their
comrades' crime was so severe that they feel their effort in the past
was not enough to redeem it. The Vietnamese must have such intense
internal strength to forgive, and these Americans must have such immense
humane nature to endure the pain for the past 30 years. Nothing and
nobody can forget.
Mike Boehm, the narrator appearing at the beginning of the
documentary, was not involved in the My Lai massacre. Like many other
soldiers who took part in the war in Viet Nam, Mike feels haunted by
crimes that he himself did not commit and has to spend the rest of his
life possessed by a sense of guilt that is too strong. The My Lai Peace
Park Project, which he is director of, is a good and beautiful gesture
that he has brought to the people of My Lai. So is the sound of his
violin.
On the water of the Tra Khuc River, the sound of his violin rises
as a prayer for the war, for those who fell down in muffled pain 30
years ago. Unlike the toll of Hemingway's bell, his violin is also for
the people of today, to give them more strength to do the right thing:
to forgive and to know how to deal with sufferings. By: YEN BA
Other Articles about the Sound of The Violin in My Lai
What is Needed Beyond Tears,
from the Vietnamese paper Toui Tre
The Vietnamese Association of Cinematography
Article from the Viet Nam News |
