A historical documentary with surprising emotional power and the reason is that it has no real desire to make any kind of statement (for those who were troubled by this fact, I can only say that most people are well aware the Vietnam war was a debacle, so restating it has no impact) other than to tell the facts. I had no idea so much raw footage of those few weeks existed.

I have a very different perspective of this alleged "documentary" because, at age 25, I was the Navy Airborne Electronic Warfare Officer who made the assessment and sent the first message calling for the evacuation of Vietnam, Operation Frequent Wind, to begin. I watched as far into this ridiculous travesty as I could and endured watching and listening to the outright lies of individuals whom I had personally and briefed about the evolving situation. Because my squadron's direct tasking was to gather intelligence, assess the intelligence and then determine, using a list of defined criteria, at what point the efforts to evacuate should begin my disgust with this propagandistic effluent was and remains palpable. What it does not tell you is that prior to the evacuation effort the North Vietnamese had been rounding up and arresting government officials, police officers, military officers and the families of those individuals with the intent of placing them in "reeducation camps." Once the North Vietnamese realized that a large-scale evacuation was underway they perceived they were pressed for time and started murdering those targeted people wholesale. Valid estimates based on gathered intelligence is that they killed as many as 10,000 people. On my aircraft I had six radios - two UHF, two VHF and two HF, as well as dedicated intercept radios. I and other members of my aircrew intercepted and heard numerous radio calls in English, French and Vietnamese pleading for help. By my personal experience several of the calls I intercepted ended in screams and gunfire. Following the evacuation and my eventual return to my home base on Guam I worked with the Vietnamese refugees there who were awaiting final clearance for transport to the States in Operation New Life. I had multiple opportunities to verify what I had surmised based on my intercepts of intelligence sources. Is this still a sensitive topic? Yes, most definitely. My squadron still exists and still performs the same intelligence gathering missions worldwide. However, you will find no mention of the squadron's assignment to or involvement in the evacuation of Vietnam contained in the squadron history online. On the Wikipedia history of VQ-1, Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE, you will find the following which I submitted and inclusion of which VQ-1 opposed: "In April 1975, two VQ-1 EP-3E aircraft and three aircrews were tasked and deployed to NAS Cubi Point, Philippines, in support of the pending evacuation of Vietnam as part of CTF 72. VQ-1 was assigned the responsibility of providing 24-hour-a-day overlapping coverage in the Vietnam Combat Zone with supporting maintenance, intelligence and operations personnel temporarily located at the VQ-1 Detachment at NAS Cubi Point. Given a specific list of criteria, VQ-1 personnel made the first call to recommend the start of Operation Frequent Wind. Those squadron aircrew members directly involved in the flight operations were recognized as serving in the Vietnam Combat Zone and were eventually awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation, Humanitarian Action Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal when in 2003 Operation Frequent Wind was reclassified as the 18th and final campaign of the Vietnam War." I cannot really blame Rory Kennedy because she depended on sources who knowingly and profusely lied to her to protect themselves and their reputations. However, I feel completely justified in the half-star rating because the "documentary" cannot legitimately be called such based on the fact that the overwhelming amount of the content is false and historically inaccurate.

There are stories that are best told by those who went through those events, protecting their perspective emotional value from the risk of the cinematic treatment with actors acting out the emotions. That way, stories are passed down and spread to a wider range of listeners finding out about what they had experienced, and reflect on how it can teach and inspire others about the subjected value. This emotionally-affecting documentary unveiled a hidden epilogue to the Vietnam War with harrow and the negative kind of thrill out of apparent hopelessness while hoping for something to turn up, sympathizing with the affected people, both mainly the South Vietnamese and the conflicted soldiers, through the perfect chronicling accounts and archives for the visual and emotional impacts with amazing results. (A-) (Full review TBD)

Love this documentary, well told

intriguing account of survivors including soldiers who were there to witness the tragic fall of the US Embassy in Saigon and the evacuation of 130K plus civilians fighting to escape the communist attacks

A well made documentary about an aspect of the Vietnam conflict I did not know a lot about. Worth a watch for history buffs.

By only focus on one part of the story through the eyes of people involved, the story keep grounded and all the complications are kept in minimal.

In terms of style and presentation, this is a fairly standard documentary told via archive footage and on-camera accounts from witnesses and participants. What makes this documentary worth viewing is the extraordinary story it tells of how the US forces evacuated Saigon during the final days of the Vietnam War. With the city surrounded by communist forces, the civilian population became increasingly panicked and desperate to escape. While the Ford administration tried and failed to secure extra funding from Congress the US Army began covert operations, not even known to the US ambassador, to get people out of the country and to safety. As the political and military situation became more precarious, options for evacuating the thousands of civilian, political and military refugees became increasingly risky. When the situation became hopeless, the US had no option but to start airlifting thousands of people who were taking refuge in the grounds of the embassy to naval vessels waiting offshore. While this was going on, the Vietnamese Navy was leading a ramshackle flotilla of vessels, crammed with people along the Saigon river in order to escape. It is very easy to look back at the events of the Vietnam conflict and cast the USA in a less than favourable light. There's no denying, that terrible things were done in the region by a political and military machine that at times seemed to defy reason. However, this documentary does show that amid this madness, the individual soldiers were trying their best to do the right thing and at times, shows tremendous heroism. The stories of just how far some of the marines, pilots and other military personnel went to try to ensure as many people got out of the country to safety is moving and fascinating. There are accounts of staggering bravery and humanitarianism on the part of both the US and South Vietnamese personnel in what must have been a confusing and dangerous time. The regret that some of them still live with that they were not able to help absolutely everyone and indeed, had to abandon some in their hour of need is painful and very clear to see. This documentary shows that during humanity's darkest times, people can still do good things.

Superb documentary on a turbulent period.

A moving depiction of 'promises made and promises broken' during a conflict that was seen by the entire world. Showing the last few weeks and hours of the evacuation. This is what happens to real people after the fire settles.

Very well done. Tragic ending to a fiasco of a war.

Powerful documentary.

Wonderful documentary on last days of Southern Vitenam and how USA worked hard to save refugees through embassy. All Americans and Canadians should watch this before whining about getting Syrian refugees to our solids.

I first watched this documentary on a flight back in June and got (rather embarrassingly) teary. Now that it is available on Netflix, I have been rewatching it multiple times during the weekend. It feels particularly poignant, given what is going on in the world these days, and how the heated debate of Vietnamese refugee vs boat people in Hong Kong shaped my childhood.

Tremendo document de la evacuación de Americanos y vietnamitas a las puertas de la invasion por parte de los comunistas.

remarkable, at times heartwrenching, story of the evacuation of Saigon of 1975.

I was born in 1968 so I was too young to know of any of the Vietnam history. I was a poor student in history class. This documentary made it real for me. Thank you Rory Kennedy for bringing out this information to the masses. Very well made documentary!

At first I thought I was unmoved by this because I'd been watching too many other things about the same time period--the CNN Seventies series, PBS documentaries about Dick Cavett and Vietnam and Kent State--but then my sister described it as a "serviceable documentary" and that's exactly it. It tells the story, shows the events, and yet never made me feel anything other than momentarily tense or angry or sad.

Fascinating and occasionally inspiring, while also sad and demoralizing.

a very well written documentary about the last two weeks before the north vietnamese invaded siagon and the south and how the Americans were able to leave and take so many refugees with them. PBS made the film.