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Rating: Wars are rarely fought for a good cause. War, however, is never a good thing, and if one could award the most unnecessary, ignominious, and fierce, the macabre podium would feature the USA's attack on Vietnam. One day, the United States wakes up, forms the SEATO with other states to crush the communist policy of North Vietnam, in contrast with the pro-American dictatorship of Ngo Dinh Diem, the South Vietnamese president, and driven even more by their senile anti-communism, they throw about 370,000 young soldiers into a meat grinder. 58,000 will return home wrapped in a flag with half a plaque placed in their mouth. In North Vietnam, amidst bombings, napalm, and hand-to-hand guerrilla fights, over 3 million people, including Vietcongs and civilians, will die.
Huynh Cong Ut, simplified to Nick Ut, is a young war photographer, one of the most talented in Vietnam, correspondent for the Associated Press for the conflict. On June 8, 1972, he finds himself in the village of Trang Bang a few kilometers from Saigon, on the road connecting it to Phnom Penh. The Americans are destroying everything through devastating napalm bombings, one of the most lethal chemical solutions ever prepared. Nick instead uses celluloid cartridges, always effective without ever causing any damage. At least material damage.
The huts catch fire, and the few terrified occupants flee, devoured by panic. Perhaps they can't even imagine what is happening. Or why their poor but dignified peace has been interrupted in such an inhumane manner. They don't have time to gather any personal or valuable items, assuming they have any. Some, if they can, at least grab a piece of cloth to wear, but not everyone succeeds. The reporter spots a bird that no longer has feathers. It is trying to fly away from that hell on earth but has burnt wings. Nearby are other birds that still have some feathers attached to them. Terror, dismay, all appear etched on those little innocent faces. Grimaces of pain and tears mix with the flames. The little Vietnamese girl is named Kim Phuc and is 9 years old. She has just lost two cousins. While running desperately, she shouts "Nong qua!" which means "Too hot!" Another journalist on the scene, Chris Wain, takes the girl under his protective wing, pouring water over her in an attempt to relieve the horrific burns and gives her something to eat. That terrified little face looking at the camera while possibly chewing on a sweet to ease the fear cannot go unnoticed. Just like that burnt body in the arms of a fleeing woman. The demons, indifferent to the atrocities, walk in the background as if they were shopping in the neon-lit center of a city. That fierce coldness towards small lost souls is repulsive. Better to check the shine of the individual weapon than to seek an opening for emotions. Better to load them with those lead pellets that will pierce other human beings. Who cares about Vietcong children? Let them die!
Ut captures an image that brings tears to the eyes. In my opinion, it's hard to petrify one's heart. Then, with his colleague Wain, he will take Kim and the other children to the hospital, where they will undergo various surgeries for third-degree burns over much of their bodies, but they will survive. Later, Ut will assist her until the fall of Saigon in 1975, and for the photo he will receive the Pulitzer Prize in 1972. Kim, after becoming the national war symbol of North Vietnamese communist propaganda, today is a nurse and UNESCO ambassador, in addition to having established an international foundation in her name to help children victims of wars with healthcare and psychological assistance.
Young woman of Vietnam
how strange it is to cultivate the sea,
how many flowers it has already given you,
how many more it can give you.
From here to Saigon the road is good...
(Francesco De Gregori)
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