"The 17th Parallel:" "The People's War" "A film by Joris Ivens" "In collaboration with:" "Marceline Loridan" "Since 1 954, a demarcation line provisionally established by the Geneva Accords cuts Vietnam in two both parts situated on either side of the 1 7th parallel." "This artificial border runs exactly through the middle of the Ben Hai river which flows from the frontier of Laos all the way to the China Sea." "5,000 marines and 1 0,000 puppet soldiers disembarked here." "Their mission:" "Defoliate the Southern part of the demilitarized zone along the 1 7th parallel, and make it into a desert." "The people's liberation armed forces have remained in charge of the terrain." "We were fast asleep when they fired on us." "The Yankee pirates came and everyone fled." "A few people stayed in their homes." "At noon, they spoke to us:" ""Leave, or the bombs will destroy everything."" "We said "Why couldn't you have chased us away when the rice was green?" "Now it is hard, and we will stay."" "Some old men said:" ""This is our native land;" "I'd rather die than leave."" "The Yankees cried:" ""Don't listen to the Viet Cong when they tell you to fight."" "They tied us up." ""Keep on fighting if you like."" "Two men were pulling at me." "They hit the old men and the young girls." "Attacks by the Peoples' Liberation Front have pushed the enemy back to their bases, where they stay." "From the first day, many M 1 1 3 tanks have been destroyed." "This was the beginning of the battle of ConThien." "They destroyed everything." "The rice was so beautiful!" "The tanks crushed everything." "They forced us to leave." "I resisted because this is my native land and I want to live and die here." "If we die here, at least we die on our ancestors' land." "They said:" ""You are repeating the propaganda taught to you by the Viet Cong."" "The villagers replied:" ""Our rice is hard, and we want to eat it."" "Millions of peasants from the South crossed the Ben Hai river to take refuge in the North." "When we came here, we had nothing." "The citizens of the North helped us." "The Americans forced us to leave." "They torched the houses." "Their tanks burned the paddy." "They destroyed everything." "So we came over here to find refuge." "Some of us came with their families." "There are husbands without their wives parents without their children." "This man and his son have never seen each other." "The child was born in the South." "The father had to leave for the North." "This was thirteen years ago." "It is like a happy premonition." "A premonition of the reunification." "I left taking nothing only bringing the children with me." "The pirates hadn't reached the hamlet." "A few guerrillas arrived and I left the children to them." "The family was separated half on one side half on another." "They yelled:" ""We're going to burn your houses down."" "We replied: "We're the ones who'll do the burning around here:" "It's our home, we have the right to burn it ourselves!"" "They beat us." "They killed all our buffalo and cattle." "The tomatoes and peppers were all crushed or stolen." "They destroyed everything." "Frightened children ran through the streets lost and in tears." "They beat the people with the butts of their rifles." "I had two chickens Iaying in my house." "Two men came and took the eggs and two others took the chickens." "The family is scattered to where, no one knows." "We don't know where our loved ones are." "The tears flow from our eyes." "When will we meet again?" "The American imperialists kill and destroy everything." "We will never forget their crimes." "We will never forget our hatred..." "We will never forget." "The Front calls for us to work hard for a better life while the Americans destroy everything." "Now we have taken refuge in the North but we will return to live off our soil." "The South and the North are like one house." "Dong, Lieu, Huan and Thuan are members of the Central Committee of our district of Vinh Linh." "They meet each week." "That's an important point when we can see that the Americans have escalated their assault just as we predicted." "We are familiar with their tactics." "The army and the people of Vinh Linh have dealt them some terrible blows." "I agree, we have made progress in the fight against the American aviators and their war of destruction." "In four days we brought down nine planes." "The popular militia alone brought down four FH4s." "This is very clear progress." "We should be fully aware of the level of morale of the people." "When they see the enemy cannons and planes the people are not afraid." "Rather they ask soldiers to strike the enemy hard." "Despite the difficulties the people and the army march side by side, in work and in combat." "The agricultural cooperatives will receive even more difficult tasks." "What do you think, comrades?" "We can already protect the living." "We can harvest and transport the paddy." "We have few casualties." "Of course, there are some, but only a few." "In spite of the conditions we can provide for people's daily needs." "One thing emerges from all that's been said the fight will be bloody and we must win." "Every day we must improve our fighting spirit and guarantee the people's safety and thereby put into practice the Party's order to limit losses." "In the bloodiest fights, we can always see the decisive role played by the Party." "At Binh Thuy, for example the enemy attacked for fifteen days." "The population has since come back to reclaim its earth." "If we let the people discuss how to deal with its problems this is a good thing a solution is found." "At Vinh Lam, for example they have confidence in the executive committee, and with its help the people find the right solution." "One problem we have, is that the people live mostly in shelters." "All aspects of daily life such as study and rest, take place in the shelters where there is a lack of oxygen, so we have to develop a physical exercise program." ""This time the Yankee pirates can no longer avoid defeat."" "Is there a lot of earth?" "Yes, there is." "Is it almost done?" "Almost done." "There's a bit left." ""Even if blood must be spilled we will continue the planting" said Dong, the committee secretary." "Now we can work in safety, thanks to the portable shelters." "This is the invention of one of the village farmers." "They offer very good protection against pellet bombs." "They are used throughout the province." "Watch out!" "Planes!" "It's gone." "Back to work!" "Too many planes this morning." "Mien, tell them to go back." "Put away those things, we're going back." "When we are in the fields, Mien is in charge of safety." "Mien, what are you up to?" "Writing a letter." "Who to?" "My sister and brother Hai." "Go on, tell us what you've been writing." "Alright then..." ""Respected sister and brother I received your letter." "It made me so happy but because of the harvest I wasn't able to reply earlier."" "Tell us about that business when you were on patrol." "They had me patrolling the coast right next to the cooperative with colored rockets flying about like crazy." "When I managed to stick my head out two rockets brushed past me, just like that!" "I was lucky to get out alive!" "It's vital you say how it was." "So you were in the most recent AA battles?" "A good sixty of 'em as I recall." "What are you doing there?" "Mien, when the militia downed the planes the pilot ended up here." "An ugly death, like a savage beast." "Well, I was in a meeting when I heard an explosion at first I thought a bomb had gone off but then I saw the airplane on fire." "I saw debris everywhere scattered to the four corners of the winds." "The pilot's body was like mincemeat." "Someone else bailed out, but he too was dead." "He must have been 2 m 20, but a goner when he hit the earth." "I was scared to look at him." "Mien, tell us about your work." "We've worked long and hard." "When my husband left he told me to help father and mother to look after the household." "That said, our quality of life has improved." "With each harvest, we can sell to the State." "Before all this started I was just an ordinary woman but now I'm deputy commandant of the militia and you, why you're the president of the village." "When my husband returns he'll see the role of women in running the village." "Thu, I should tell you about last night's bombing." "On such nights you can forget about sleep rabid planes kept returning like mosquitoes." "At 3 a.m. they dropped four bombs on a hamlet." "Four 1 00 Kg's but no one was hurt except for a pig, buried and whimpering." "When I dug it out, it didn't even have a scratch." "Their night attacks serve little purpose." "The Americans spend a lot of money and a lot of time for nothing." "You're right." "In the skies they seem ferocious warriors but as soon as you capture one of them their faces get as long as a cat." "Cowardice personified!" "Though they fight, they have no ideals to fight for." "Write all this down." "We dig very large shelters not only to protect ourselves from falling bombs but also to live in them." "Our shelters are not holes where we hide." "We have been given the order to transform shelters into combat posts." "Our shelters are our combat posts." "This is the store that sells the cooperative's products." "Here's the money..." "I gave you a note." " One dollar, sure..." "I forgot the 400 g of nuoc mam." "Pass me that leaf." "I've got the sugar for the people in the cooperative." "I'd like my share, too." "I'm also a member of the cooperative." "Well, I'm off then, uncles and aunts..." "Lots of airplanes this morning..." "A house protects man from sun and rain." "A shelter protects his skin and bones from bombs and torpedoes." "Fire!" "Fire!" "Ngoc's home has been bombed again." "This is the third time." "The neighbors came running right away to help." "Tonight they will take in his family." "Tomorrow they will help him to rebuild his house." "Here we say: "Healthy leaves must help those that have fallen."" "His shelter is a good one;" "no one was hurt." "Your house was hit yesterday." "I've come on behalf of the village committee to find out exactly what you've lost." "What have you lost?" "What do you still have to live off?" "After the bombing I found I'd lost fifty kilos of paddy eighty kilos of grain entrusted to us by the cooperative sixty kilos of maize ten marrows, ten pumpkins." "All we have left are the clothes we're standing in." "Everything else got burned to a cinder during the bombing." "It's the same thing with the utensils three frying pans and four jars." "I'll make out a report to the committee." "They'll do their best to help you." "The Americans definitely cannot imagine what one can get from the wreck of a supersonic bomber." "It's all going very well." "A present from LBJ!" "Looks better than the stuff from Hanoi!" "They are the holes from the torpedoes of the 7th Fleet." "Each handful of rice saved is also a victory." "The largest craters were dug by bombs." "Over 2,000 pounds launched by B-52s." "Thu!" "There are two craters." "For the first one, we need about 30 people, I'd say." "The other's too deep best to leave it as a fishpond." "Heavens, your fish are enormous!" "Thu, I've been here for ten days." "I know that you're president of the village." "I know that other women also occupy positions of leadership." "I'm a correspondent from a magazine in Hanoi." "There are 743 households here 4,1 1 4 mouths to feed." "The rice paddies are terraced they're sterile, acid and salty and slowly eroding away." "With the men gone and the earth so sterile, how to solve the labor force problem?" "In these two years of war the women wouldn't believe us at first but then the executive committee managed to convince all of them to go into the fields." "Since there's been no stop to the bombing the Party cell and executive committee have concentrated all their attention on building shelters." "So all the women go to the fields now?" "At first they didn't believe us but after we put up shelters in the daycare centers they put all their children in daycare." "So the daycare centers work." "The people work in the fields but how do you respond to the continual attacks?" "Our sector here is bombarded day and night." "We have to scatter during the day." "At most there are 5 or 6 of us in a work party." "We work according to the hours the enemy works." "If the planes come early we work late." "And if they come late?" "We work early." "We avoid the critical times." "But we always have someone posted on lookout." "If the plane is circling overhead everyone sits down." "When a plane starts diving we have to watch which direction it's coming from." "If they start dropping bombs and we see they're the round sort they're going to drop right on top of you, so we have to run." "But if they're elongated, it means they'll fall further away." "We have to know these things if we're to escape the danger." "There is one thing, though that makes me very excited." "After two years of war we respect each other we love each other more and more." "When the enemy attacks the village people help each other share their houses their dishes, their clothing with those who've lost everything, and we love each other more and more." "How does the role of the village leadership relate to the people?" "The people were afraid when the attacks started." "The Party helped them to conquer their fear." "There are two important points I should mention the building of solid shelters." "If a house burns down, we rebuild it." "If the enemy sets fire to a house, we build another." "Shelters are the most important thing." "Houses shelter us from the rain and sun but shelters protect our skin and bones." "That's why they have to be built well." "We have often been bombed and attacked by the enemy yet there were few casualties and the Party cell drew its own lesson from this." "Even if the enemy makes lots of bomb craters we fill them all in." "We never abandon a surface we can cultivate." "Last year, we filled in 663 bomb craters in the village's territory." "Let's be ready for combat!" "We're ready." "Planes!" "Sit down!" ""I want to keep you with a cigarette to tell you something." "If you achieve success then I'm willing to be the daughter-in-law of your house."" "So you're leaving us then!" "Plant the potatoes quickly!" "We must work hard to defeat the Yankees." "This road went to Hoxa." "It doesn't go there anymore." "The town of Hoxa no longer exists, razed by bombs." "Its destruction cost the Americans 76 planes." "Here there was a school..." "Here a large market..." "There a large market..." "There a theater..." "Life in Hoxa continues, scattered underground." "You paid attention but you still don't know how to express your feelings." "Harpagon's mood changes a lot." "You have to try and express his state which is both mad and suspicious." "Load!" "To the right!" "Load!" "The village's popular militia..." "The militia must know all the military techniques." "They must aim heavy cannons as well as use guns." "The people must be able to replace the regular army in any place, at any time." "The battery has just been moved again." "Yesterday it was attacked eight times." "The new combat post has been arranged by peasants." "Binh, the captain, was at Dien Bien Phu." "He was born in Hue, in the South." "His two sisters fight in the Peoples' Liberation Front." "Each night, the militia patrols along the sea." "These pellet bombs and these transistor radios are presents from the United States to the people of Vietnam." "We keep the bombs." "We don't want the transistors." "South Vietnam victories." "Con Tien and Gio Linh:" "G.I. graveyards." "Our people's voice crosses the 1 7th parallel." "The armed forces and people hit the enemy hard..." "Despite their retreat, defeat was inevitable." "At Khe Sanh, our cannons wiped out 1,800 enemy and 1 500 more at Con Tien, Doc Mieu and Dong Ha." "The aggressors paid a high price for venturing into the demilitarised zone." "In 4 days, 2000 of them were killed or wounded and the Marines' 3rd Division lost 1 000 soldiers." "In a continuation of their victorious attack, the Armed Forces of Liberation Iured the enemy to Gio An." "They annihilated 1 320 soldiers." "Our heavy artillery rumbled striking fearsome blows at Con Tien and Doc Miêu." "Any US unit straying from its base was besieged from all sides." "The Americans and their puppets are afraid of this voice." "They have tried dozens of times to quiet it with bombs." "The poem Hoan recites are the words of a mother who has stayed in the South to her son in the army of the North." ""Like a little bird in its nest awakened by the cannon and rifle fire that shatter the night's calm, I do not sleep." "Once there was a time when we lived in joy." "Once there was a time when the beloved child grew stronger day by day hour by hour." "My heart is troubled, like the day when you enlisted." "Wherever you go, mother is always with you." "My heart trembles with joy at the thought of you." "I hear the cannon shots from the North exploding in the South." "Fire my son, fire again." "Aim most of all at Con Tien and Doc Mieu which are spreading unhappiness and making the blood of young shoots flow." "I am standing by the tree where you played as a child." "I hear the thunder of our cannons to the North, South, East and West." "By the cannon, at that moment, you and others are taking cups of green tea from the hands of other mothers who help you to carry shells just as I used to gather stones for you to throw at birds." "We shall reconquer our soil we shall avenge our suffering." "Fire the shells of justice, my son!" "On this marvelous night, the enemy should be silenced and I think of you, my son, so solid on the blazing earth, the earth of Vinh Linh."" "The printing press is also from Hoxa." "Here we make the newspaper for the Thong Nhat district, the 'Reunification'." "Here is the machine we invented using the rocket flares that the enemy fires at us." "These four small wheels also come from these rockets." "Before inventing this machine we learned of the resolutions of the C.C. regarding the struggle against a possible Yankee invasion." "We must publish the party paper daily, whatever the circumstances." "If the enemy lands at Vinh Linh, we would hide the machine." "Only with this can we guarantee printing." "Pieces of heavy artillery have arrived near the village." "We are the ones to attack them." "The enemies thought themselves safe at Con Thien and Doc Mieu." "Now our cannons fire on them." "Huan is the cultural superintendent for the whole district." "He lives like all the peasants here his wife is a peasant." "There are three shelters in his house one for cooking one for sleeping and the third against bombings by B-52s." "All the homes in the village are constructed like this." "Huan has not finished digging his large shelter with his wife and their daughter." "They have been bombed six times, they have moved six times and they have dug new shelters six times." "Will it be finished soon, Mother?" "Quickly, it is time to eat." "Where did you go this morning?" "I was working." "Are you tired?" "Yes, quite." "Did you work hard?" " One sao and a half." "Sit, sit!" "Yesterday, I had to dig a shelter until midnight." "Us too, until eleven." "The Americans try to see in the night by launching flares." "They see nothing at all." "They launch their bombs like the blind." "These don't stop us from going to the show." "Planes!" "Lights out!" "Let us dig trenches in every direction let us prepare traps for the aggressor." "Work swiftly, comrades!" "Let us think of days past where our blood has been spilled." "Our country has made a vow and it shall be upheld." "Mien's days are never done." "In addition to her responsibilities with the Militia she also works in the fields, at home and at the Cooperative." "That's good." "Are the statistics ready?" " Yes." "Here are the areas, and the yield is here." "Did you subtract the uncultivated ground?" " Yes." "The militias transform unexploded American bombs into Vietnamese arms." "Everything in this landmine is American." "The detonators, the charges even the artillery shells come from recuperated enemy material." "The twelve grenades are propelled into the air by an explosive charge." "When they have attained the desired height they explode and disperse." "The explosions can bring down any helicopter." "We prepare ourselves to greet the Americans." "When we prepare ourselves for the worst, we keep the initiative on our side." "There is a bomb crater." "It covers two thirds of the road." "In order to make it passable again quickly we're going to have to fill in one third of the crater and widen the road by a third." "That's how to get speed and efficiency." "Remember, comrades we will need to put up stakes and a fence to prevent the earth from falling back into the crater." "Over there!" "Watch out!" "That plane's heading this way!" "And two more behind it." "It's diving!" "It's dropping bombs!" "Our DCA is firing at it." "Can you hear?" "They're heading out to sea." "The pilot didn't have time to jump out with his parachute." "He wasn't even able to discharge his bombs." "He dug his own grave." "The shock brigades that repair the roads have one motto: "The enemy destroys, and we pass by."" "They also say: "The road waits for trucks, but trucks don't wait for the road."" "The leaders of the Cooperative wonder how to store rice." "It was too exposed in the silos." "An old peasant has an idea: to entrust a small quantity of rice with each of us." "Rice was given out among hundreds of families and three months later, when we counted it we weren't missing even one kilo." "Quick, in position." "This training is in case of a landing." "If the Americans come here they will be drowned in the ocean of the People's War." "Comrade Mien, for this movement you need to raise your foot and sit down in this position." "Then you turn the stick from right to left once then you turn from left to right." "Got it?" "The enemy can come by sky, by land and by sea." "The boats of the 7th Fleet do not dare approach our shores." "The artillery gunners in the batteries have already sunk six battleships." "Come and give me a hand helping the cook." "Load!" "Back again." "Load!" "Tonight the coast patrol has been reinforced." "We are afraid of a night raid." "Just so, at dawn, the Americans attack." "The only real defense is offense." "Warning boat from South to North." "Concentrate on the first." "Red Flower warning." "Warning: 3 degrees 40, 1 6 degrees 50." "Rapid fire." "Hit!" "Sighting." "1 7 degrees 20, 1 6 degrees 30." "Fire!" "The chief confirms that this morning C3 brought down a plane." "The Americans committed the folly of attacking Vinh Linh from three sides: from sea sky and land." "Some villages were hit by 5,000 shells in three days." "Others received 70 to 80 bombs per inhabitant in a short time." "The Americans really pushed the war to the edge of the Ben Hai River." "They violated the demilitarised zone." "They are preparing to up the ante once more." "Our anger and hatred for them are deeper than the ocean." "President Ho Chi Minh's appeal resounds like a clarion call." "We have fought and we shall continue to fight with a will of steel, with faith in victory and with the help of the Army and the population of Vinh Linh." "Facing an absolutely incontestable situation and successive defeats the Americans pushed their mad criminal attack along the river to our district." "But we are ready." "For decades, and in recent times most of all we see the lies of their aggressive war." "We understand the cruelty and cowardice of mercenaries." "If they dare set foot in our district we, the population and Army of Vinh Linh will reserve thunderclaps for them." "For if they come here, there is only one way to go the way home is cut off." "The Vinh Linh region is the bridgehead of our socialist North the Vietnamese heart of our unified mother country." "The struggle for this district has made it clear: "Independence or slavery, reunification or eternal separation."" "To your combat stations!" "Let us avenge our Hanoi and Vinh Linh compatriots!" "May Uncle Ho's directives be implemented!" "Let's punish the Yankees!" "Red River!" "Load." "Load." "Fire!" "At this moment, they're afraid in Con Thien." "All of the torpedoes from the 1 55th and 1 75th hit their mark." "When the Americans come early, we work late." "When they come late, we work early." "Have you finished replanting?" "Nearly." "Each handful of rice brought in is a new victory." "In our village, we cultivate three times more earth than we did two years ago, and have three plantings instead of two to compensate for losses due to bombings." "And so we've been able to increase production." "Each family has planted a banana tree and the harvest goes to the village health center." "Nearly all the wounded are soldiers." "They finish their convalescence in peasants' homes." "They take care of themselves, and participate in the village work." "Hands up!" "Drop your weapons!" "Not dead!" "Go!" "The biggest one always plays the American." "It's not only a game:" "it's also training for the People's War." "I've won two rounds already." "I won the last one!" "One card..." "My card beats yours!" "And mine beats yours!" "See!" "No, you see!" "You haven't won yet!" "Mine!" "I've got the red one." "One card!" "I've got the Red General!" "You're cheating!" "There are some cards missing." "Are you still playing?" "The enemy can also come by land, with his tanks." "The militias know all the ways to destroy any American assault tank." "Let the adults attack first!" "Let me go there with them!" " Later!" "Mission accomplished!" "Let's have a smoke." "This is good tobacco." "Ten minute break." "Why is the gun so dirty?" "Because we're doing exercises we'll clean it when we're finished." "Don't point the barrel like that!" "Never hold a gun like that whether it's loaded or not." "I'm loading the magazine to fire at the Americans." "My name is Pham Dong Duc." "I'm nine years old." "I used to live with my mother in the South." "Then she died." "I'm happy in the North." "If the puppets had known that I was working for the FNL they would have put me in prison." "I usually go looking for wood and carry water to my grandmother and into the forests for my soldier uncles." "I have many memories." "I remember I once saw the soldiers preparing some ground for the helicopters." "I thought up a game with two sticks." "Fourteen of my hands make one meter." "From there to my house there were 340 meters." "From my house to the road there were 1 00 meters." "From the road to the ground was therefore..." "I ran to find my uncles in liberation and I told them that that made 240 meters." "Then, my soldier uncles brought mortars fired and destroyed everything." "What is your reaction when you see an American plane?" "When I see it coming I take my grandmother to the shelter she is half blind and the bombs might hit her." "What about you?" "I go down with her and I come back up to see if there are any wounded to be cared for or to take to the hospital." "When you see a plane, do you recognize it?" "Yes." "I can recognize it see whether it's a helicopter an F-1 05 jet plane or another type." "Are you afraid of Americans?" " No." "What about tigers?" " Yes, I'm afraid of them but not Americans." "What would you do if the Americans captured you?" "If they capture me I could be dead or alive, but I'd never talk." "Why not?" "They've already got me." "If I talked they'd get my uncles too." "It's dangerous, and they're working for us all." "That's why I'll never talk." "Hands up!" "(sign reads): "The hospital is a battlefield each bed a combat station."" "The Americans bomb, burn, pillage and kill." "But each day our people are further enflamed with anger and hate." "Down with the Yankee pirates!" "Out!" "This morning, we took down an enemy plane, and captured the pilot." "Once again the prestige of the USA is dragged through the mud." "Like President Ho Chi Minh has said: "Nothing is more precious than Independence and Liberty." "When the day of Victory comes we will rebuild our homes bigger and more beautiful." "And if the Americans dare come here we have reserved a welcome for them fit for the reception they've received from our compatriots in the South."" "We are going to learn the words "Hands up."" "He must raise his hands because we need to find out if he has any more weapons." ""Still" means "stop"." "If he doesn't stop, he is dead." "If he resists, we have to react too." "If he obeys calmly, that's OK." "If not, we have to react immediately." "Always let him go ahead." "We need to learn these words when we might capture pilots or commando infiltrators." ""Let's go" means... .."Go!"." "Read with me." "Reread with me once again." "You didn't pronounce "Hands up" properly." "Again." "And again." "END"