📺 The Vietnam War: Déjà Vu (1858-1961) Episode 1

Watched The Vietnam War: Déjà Vu (1858-1961) Episode 1 from PBS

After a long and brutal war, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh end nearly a century of French colonial occupation. With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva. Communists in the north aim to reunify the country, while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem's untested regime in the south.

The opening history is intriguing and really only seems to scratch the surface in this episode. I could have taken a more in-depth opening, though they’ve got a lot of ground to cover in just 10 episodes. Sadly, it’s the beginning and subtle causes for the war that are culturally the least understood, so this becomes a more useful place to lay them out for viewers.

I can only watch it and think about the futility of the whole thing.

I’m a bit curious how others found the flash forward portions of the late 60’s. It felt like the directors were trying to keep an American audience involved in the ongoing story, though, if continued throughout the series, these could provide interesting personal counterpoint to the overall arc of the story.