Randa Abdel-Fattah

In fact, there's only one single line of dialogue spoken by a South Vietnamese person in the entire two and a half hour film.

Especially because Viet benefits from the cultural power that his Vietnamese-American identity offers.

The first time he returned to Vietnam, Viet chose not to see his extended family.

But eventually, he decided it was time.

Seeing his family was complicated, especially for Viet, who moves through the world as both American and Vietnamese.

Coming up, how Viet changed his lens and how he wants the rest of us to change ours.

No happy forgetting.

Today, the media attention is on Iran and conflicts in the Middle East.

And while the war in Ukraine and Russia continues to rage, the why and the what of that conflict is already beginning to blur and be forgotten.

When we first spoke to Viet, the world was focused on Ukraine and in the process of forgetting another major conflict.

In August 2021, two decades after the first bombs were dropped, the U.S.

withdrew from Afghanistan.

It was the longest war in U.S.

history.

But for Viet, it's not just the forgetting that's the problem.

It's how we forget.

You wrote an opinion piece.

It was around the U.S.

withdrawal from Afghanistan.

And you were actually drawing a parallel between the fall of Saigon and the withdrawal from Kabul.