Arte - Mysteries in the Archives Series 2 (2010) Part 8 1975 The Fall of Saigon

Mysteries in the archives, ten investigations into ten events of the twentieth century that have marked our memory and our imagination. In the French series, we learn about the historical events of the 20th century by closely investigating archive films. Who is in the picture, who is missing? Why was the camera pointed right here? Who is sitting next to whom? The “Mysteries in the Archives” series takes us to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the Khmer Rouge camps, the occupation of Saigon and a Tour de France. We follow John F. Kennedy's visit to Berlin as well as the funeral a few months later, and we learn about the Shah's celebrations at ancient Persepolis and de Gaulle's scandalous speech in Quebec. By looking at the pictures again and more closely, the series reveals how history has been processed, told and manipulated in the pictures. Each image is carefully studied and analyzed until its secrets are revealed. The series explores the power of pictures to tell otherwise. It raises the question do we see what we know or can we know more with the help of the image? “Mysteries in the Archives” is a collection aiming to uncover and rediscover known or unpublished images that bear witness to our history. The audiovisual document becomes a piece of evidence that it is up to us to question, to make people talk. The image is scrutinized, dissected, and often, Mysteries in the Archives takes our gaze away from what the camera operator had seen or expected. Each episode is constructed as an investigation. Some are about cheerful and amusing topics, others are about more solemn, momentous events. Serge Viallet, a true detective of the image, reveals a multitude of new elements and significant anecdotes hidden behind the story as it was shown to us in cinemas and then on television. Meticulous investigations are undertaken - film is rummaged, sifted through and sorted, examined frame by frame and analyzed until it finally reveals its secrets. This collection includes all 10 episodes of season 2.

Part 8 1975 The Fall of Saigon

April 1975, Western reporters film the last hours of the Vietnam War rushed departures, helicopters pushed into the sea, Communist tanks entering Saigon… The hasty evacuation from the roof of the American embassy, ​​helicopters in distress, pilots who, in desperation, jump into the void - these images shape the cinematic memory of the final act of the 30-year Vietnam War. They come from Western reporters covering the predictable fall of the South Vietnamese capital in late April 1975. Several thousand vulnerable Americans and Vietnamese are being evacuated by air. These images made the news worldwide and are part of our memory of the fall of Saigon today. But why this hasty escape when everything had been planned and organized for weeks? When the North Vietnamese tanks appear in the gardens of the presidential palace the next morning, reporters are allowed to film the victorious soldiers and accompany them to the palace balcony. But are these images from the Western press to the liking of the new masters of Saigon? Why this rush? And how did the new masters of Saigon receive the presence of the reporters, and wishing to show this historic moment?

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