NORMAL VILLAGE LIFE: CROPS: FISHING: SOUTH KOREAN TROOPS: CAPTURED WEAPONS: VIET CONG PRISONER: INTERROGATION: ANOTHER VIET CONG WHO SURRENDERED: VILLAGE CHIEF: THRESHING RICE: NEW MACHINE FOR THRESHING: PIGS: COCONUT PALMS GROWING: SOUTH KOREAN FORCES TRAIN VILLAGERS IN RIFLE SHOOTING.




Initials



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Background: PRESIDENT JOHNSON IS NOW BACK IN THE UNITED STATES AFTER HIS ASIAN TOUR, ON WHICH HE PUT FORWARD SOLID PROPOSALS TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM. BUT VIETNAM ITSELF IS STILL A DIVIDED COUNTRY - AND THERE ARE MANY VILLAGES IN THE "NO MAN'S LAND" WHICH DIVIDES THE FIGHTING, WHERE LOYALTIES ARE DEPENDENT UPON OCCUPATION. THIS FILM SHOWS THE LIFE OF A VILLAGE WHICH IS OCCUPIED BY THE NORTH VIETNAMESE.

THE VILLAGE IN THE FILM IS NAMELESS - BUT THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT THROUGHOUT VIETNAM. ALL THE VILLAGERS WANT FROM LIFE IS THE NORMAL DAY-TO-DAY ROUND, WHICH GIVES THEM THEIR LIVING. THEY ARE NOT REALLY CONCERNED WITH THE WAR. IN THIS VILLAGE SOUTH KOREAN FORCES HAVE TAKEN OVER OCCUPATION FROM THE NORTH VIETNAMESE. THE KOREANS HAVE BROUGHT WITH THEM A NEW CONCEPT - AND NEW MACHINES WHICH HELP IN THE AGE-OLD TASK OF RICE-THRESHING. THEY ALSO TRAIN THE VILLAGERS IN AUTOMATIC WEAPON HANDLING.

SOMETIMES THERE ARE CAPTURED NORTH VIETNAMESE TO BE INTERROGATED, AND IN ONE CASE A NORTH VIETNAMESE SOLDIER WHO HAD SURRENDERED VOLUNTARILY. ALL OF THIS SEEMS EXTRANEOUS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE, WHO ARE MORE CONCERNED WITH THEIR OWN LIVELIHOOD THAN THE FORTUNES OF WAR.

THE VILLAGE CHIEF WAS FORMERLY A NORTH VIETNAMESE FIGHTER, BUT NOW HE LIMPS ALONG AND IS ONLY INTERESTED IN THE CONTINUING WELL-BEING OF HIS VILLAGE.