Vietnamese Actor Under Fire for U.S. Film Roles

Don Duong, a 45-year-old actor once considered Vietnam’s shining star, has been branded “a national traitor” in his native country. The Vietnamese government has seized his passport and is threatening to throw the screen veteran in jail and ban him from acting. His crime: co-starring in “We Were Soldiers” with Mel Gibson and the drama “Green Dragon” with Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker, films that the Vietnamese government has condemned.

His plight, which first surfaced in media reports in Vietnam earlier this month, is drawing an unusual and impassioned response from Hollywood’s creative community. Gibson, Swayze and Whitaker are speaking out on his behalf and are taking part in a letter-writing campaign to the State Department with others including filmmaker Randall Wallace, Harvey Keitel and Ken Brecher, the executive director of the Sundance Institute.

“We Were Soldiers” and “Green Dragon,” both released earlier this year, only recently came to the Vietnamese government’s attention when they became available on the black market there.

“Both movies distort the legitimate war history of our people and the humanity of the Vietnamese,” said the state-run paper Quan Doi Nhan Dan in a front-page article, according to the Associated Press. Another paper quoted Luu Trong Hong, deputy chair of the National Film Censorship Council, as saying, “Don Duong has lost his honor among the people and has become an instrument in the hands of forces hostile to the Vietnamese nation.”

According to Duong’s eldest sister, Susie Bui, who lives in the U.S., the government seized Duong’s passport about two weeks ago, and the family has had a difficult time communicating with him. The government last week said it will not allow Duong to attend the Asian Pacific Film Festival in Korea and is considering a proposal that would bar him from acting and leaving the country for five years.

Calls to the Vietnamese consulate were not returned. As the family awaits word from Vietnam, Susie Bui said she is concerned for her brother’s safety. “Before he did these two films, he would come in and out of Vietnam easily,” she said. “The government thinks the two films portrayed the country in a bad image. For his safety, we are being careful because we don’t know what’s going on. We don’t want anything more to happen to him.”

In “We Were Soldiers,” Duong portrayed the commander of the Vietnamese forces, the late Col. Nguyen Huu An. In the film, which was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures, both the U.S. and Vietnamese forces are portrayed as fearless. The film also showed heavy casualties on both sides. In Vietnamese movies about the war, Americans are portrayed as arrogant imperialists who exploit the local communities, while the Vietnamese are righteous nationalists.

“A lot of films have been done that denigrate the Vietnamese,” said Gibson, speaking from Rome, where he is in pre-production on “The Passion,” a film about the last days of Jesus Christ. He said that “We Were Soldiers” showed “the courage of the Vietnamese soldiers. Nothing [Duong] did brought dishonor to the Vietnamese people. I think he showed artistic courage.”

“I think that the irony in all of this is that this movie was never political,” said Wallace. “We’ve been criticized by some for showing the humanity of American soldiers. And here is a man being persecuted in Vietnam for showing the humanity of a Vietnamese soldier.”

Letters are being sent to U.S. Ambassador Raymond Burghardt as well as to Vietnamese officials. Wallace wrote to Burghardt that “Don Duong ... has portrayed an officer who loved and cared for his men, who was wise and ferocious in battle ... and who in the end was even more perceptive than the leaders of the American government, in that he recognized that the continuation of America’s military effort in Vietnam would only produce a greater tragedy in lost lives.... In the eyes of the non-Vietnamese, Don Duong has represented his people in a way that has brought them honor and respect.”

Hal Moore, a retired three-star general who served in Vietnam and co-authored the book on which “We Were Soldiers” was based, said he and An became friends after the war. “He was a great leader,” said Moore, who served as a consultant on the film. “The last time I saw him, I gave him my wristwatch and he gave me his pith helmet, which had his name written on the inside.” Years later, the Vietnamese government gave him permission to enter the country to visit An’s widow and her family. He said he has never met Duong, but “I think [An] was portrayed very accurately in the film.”

Green-Lighting a Film

In order to film in Vietnam, producers must submit a script to that government for approval. Since “We Were Soldiers” and “Green Dragon” were filmed in the U.S., the filmmakers did not submit the script to the Vietnamese government. It is unclear if Duong submitted the script or if the government approved the actor’s participation in the films.

In an earlier Associated Press interview, Duong said that he was surprised by the criticism of the film and that he has decided not to play any more roles in foreign movies about the Vietnam War. Duong, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, was unreachable for comment this week.

Also under attack in Vietnam are Duong’s nephews, the U.S.-based filmmakers Timothy Linh Bui and Tony Bui, who made “Green Dragon.” The Vietnamese state-owned press is calling for the Buis to be barred from setting foot in Vietnam again.

Ironically, it was the Buis’ 1999 film “Three Seasons” that was embraced by the Ministery of Culture of Vietnam and entered as the country’s official selection as best foreign film for the 2000 Academy Awards. Don Duong was the star of that film, the first American production to be filmed in Vietnam after the war.

The Buis said “Green Dragon”--which in 2001 won a Humanitas Award, given for outstanding writing that enlightens the audience--was an extension of “Three Seasons.” “We wanted to reflect what was going on in the U.S. in 1975 at the time with Vietnamese refugees,” said Timothy Linh Bui. “We weren’t making any judgments or comparisons. It was our own personal story.”

In “Green Dragon,” Duong portrays a Vietnamese refugee sent to Camp Pendleton who befriends a Marine sergeant played by Swayze. The film, set in 1975, tells the story of a little boy’s search for his mother and the confusion and fear of starting over in America.

Working with Duong was a pleasure, Swayze said. “We had a language barrier but no communication barrier. We became wonderful friends,” he said. “The movie was completely intended to show the dignity and the beauty of the Vietnamese people. Don loves his country.”

The scene that the Vietnamese government objects to is one in which Duong, having left the camp to see some of America, returns to tell the other refugees not to be afraid. Duong’s character tells them about things he saw and learned about--grocery stores, the minimum wage, Cadillacs--and says that America is nothing to fear.

Tony and Timothy Bui said that Duong wants to tell his side of the story in Vietnam but has not been given the opportunity to speak in the state-owned press.

The Buis said that they began contacting people in Hollywood who had worked with Duong two weeks ago to let them know of his situation. “We’re extremely moved that people have reacted this way,” said Tony Bui.

Whitaker, who was the executive producer “Green Dragon” and acted in the film, said he is saddened by the situation. “I wouldn’t have raised the money for the film if I thought it reflected badly on the Vietnamese. It was this universal story about immigrants trying to find a home. The Buis [who came to the U.S. as refugees when they were children] are the only filmmakers telling stories about the Vietnamese. They are educating us about Vietnam. They told me that they went to Vietnam and were so inspired by their heritage. They have so much respect for Vietnam and the people. It’s so contrary that it’s a hard pill to swallow.”

“Three Seasons” was filmed in 1998 and set in modern-day Vietnam. It intertwines a collection of stories about people finding their place in a changing country. Duong starred in the film with Keitel, who portrayed an American in search of his daughter.

Keitel spent three weeks with Duong in Ho Chi Minh City during the filming of “Three Seasons.” He called Duong “a gentle man” and “one of the best actors I have worked with.” Keitel said that he is returning to Vietnam to shoot “A Beautiful Country” this winter. He said that after seeing “Green Dragon,” he called his director, Hans Petter Molan, and told him that he should view the film “to see how extraordinary the Vietnamese talent is. I felt that all Americans should see this film to see the beauty of a people we once upon a time looked upon as our enemies and fought against.”

“Three Seasons’” producers, Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente, in a letter to Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, urged the government to consider Duong’s entire body of work, which includes more than 50 films, not just the two films now deemed objectionable. “Don Duong

The Early Years

Prior to “We Were Soldiers” and “Green Dragon,” Duong was considered one of Vietnam’s top actors. Born in Dalat in 1957, he grew up with six siblings in central Vietnam. He studied to become a pharmacist and worked for a time in a government lab. During the war, his family was torn apart.

He began acting in 1982. Eleven years later, he won the Vietnamese best actor award for the film “Dau An Cua Quy” (“Mark of the Devil”). Two other films in which he starred also won best picture at Vietnamese film festivals.

His breakthrough film in the U.S. was “Three Seasons.” The film won the Grand Jury and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999. “Up until that film, Vietnam was known as a war, not as a country,” said Timothy Linh Bui.

By late last week, news of Duong’s situation had reached Southern California’s Vietnamese community, the largest population outside Vietnam. “I think the whole thing is unfair treatment for Don,” said songwriter Nam Loc Nguyen in Los Angeles on Friday. “He’s a professional actor” who was just doing his job.

But for many in the traditionally anti-communist immigrant community, the Duong affair is not surprising.

“The communist government always claim there’s freedom, but this clearly represents that they still control everything,” said Hung Nguyen, 57, of Garden Grove.

Times staff writer Mai Tran contributed to this report.