Vietnamese Reaction to ‘The Sympathizer’s War Depiction – What They REALLY Think!

Never has a TV show stirred such a mix of anticipation, fascination, and unease in the expatriate Vietnamese community of California, the largest worldwide, like “The Sympathizer.”

The seven-part spy drama from HBO, which presents the Vietnam War and its aftermath, or the American War as referred to in the series’ opening title card, began airing on Sunday with new episodes weekly until May 26. Co-created by South Korean director Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, the series boasts the talents of Academy Award-winning actor Robert Downey Jr. in multiple roles (he also serves as an executive producer). The series is based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which tells the story of a French Vietnamese communist operative.

The series makes history by casting Vietnamese or Vietnamese-descendant actors in main roles, with a significant portion of the dialogue in Vietnamese, even though it’s primarily intended for American viewers. The series premiere is set in Vietnam, portraying the fall of Saigon and a dramatic escape from an airstrip.

For the younger generation, the series provides a platform to share Vietnamese narratives globally. However, for the older generation, especially those who participated in the war, “The Sympathizer” has sparked discontent. Critics argue that the show’s protagonist, a communist spy who infiltrates the South Vietnamese army and follows his superior officer to Los Angeles to start a new life, glorifies the enemy— the communists— by sharing the spy’s negative views about the South.

These opinions were among those aired at a viewing party hosted by Alan Vo Ford at Pink Moon, a Chinese restaurant in Beverly Hills, where the premiere episode was streamed for 30 friends from the Los Angeles and Orange County area. Ford, 49, a Westminster resident, real estate broker, and producer of Vietnamese films like “A Fragile Flower” and “Journey From the Fall,” felt compelled to arrange the event due to the rarity of major Hollywood series featuring Vietnamese narratives.

“I considered it my responsibility as a Vietnamese American to spread awareness about Vietnam and American history during this crucial period,” he said. Ford shared that his mother carried him as an infant while “running and dodging bombs during the final days,” mirroring the closing scenes of the first episode. His father was detained in a reeducation camp for nine years, and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1985.

“This series is a significant breakthrough for the Vietnamese community, being on HBO and collaborating with stars like Robert Downey Jr.,” said Don Nguyen, 55, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and cybersecurity consultant, who attended the party. As part of the first generation of Vietnamese who joined the U.S. military, he understands what it means to break barriers. He believes the series signals to the world that they’ve made their mark in Hollywood.

“Our community has many talented doctors, lawyers, and engineers. But in films, we’re still in the early stages,” he said. His mother is Thanh Tuyen, a Vietnamese singer whose Bolero songs were popular during the war.

Despite generational differences, there’s a community-wide consensus that this is a monumental moment for Vietnamese representation in Hollywood and a step forward in their quest for more Vietnamese stories.

Viet Thanh Nguyen, the author of the novel, has long advocated for a Vietnamese perspective on the war. He asserts that Hollywood has for too long portrayed “Vietnamese characters as victims or villains while American characters grapple with their moral dilemmas.” The war and its aftermath have been mostly depicted through an American lens in films like “Apocalypse Now” and “Rambo.”

“There should be at least as many Vietnamese viewpoints on this war as there are American ones,” he said.

The series features a predominantly Vietnamese cast, with Hoa Xuande, an Australian actor of Vietnamese descent, playing the lead role as the Captain. Other actors in supporting roles include Kieu Chinh, Toan Le, Fred Nguyen Khan, Vy Le, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, and Alan Trong.

“This is a significant moment for Vietnamese artists, writers, and filmmakers in Hollywood,” said Chinh, a renowned Vietnamese actress who plays the mother of the Major (Phanxinê, a Vietnamese filmmaker making his acting debut), a character whose story takes center stage midway through the season. As someone who lived through the war, she found the chaotic evacuation scene at the end of the first episode familiar.

“I remember the deafening sound of bombs exploding all around us as we tried to escape. It was terrifying and emotionally overwhelming,” Chinh said. “During filming, I found myself reliving my past. There was no need for acting.”

Chinh is famous for her role as Suyuan Woo in 1993’s “The Joy Luck Club,” an adaptation of Amy Tan’s bestselling novel. The film was the first to feature an almost entirely Asian cast and achieve box office success in Hollywood. Despite the film’s success, it did not lead to an increase in Asian-centric films or roles for Asian actors. Chinh believes that “The Joy Luck Club” was ahead of its time and that now is the right time for a Vietnamese series to be showcased on mainstream TV.

Anna Chi, a filmmaker who worked on “The Joy Luck Club” as a director’s assistant while at UCLA’s film school, attended the viewing party with her husband, Douglas Smith, a visual-effects Oscar winner for “Independence Day.” She agrees with Chinh’s view that “The Joy Luck Club” was ahead of its time. She acknowledges the progress made but feels there’s still a long way to go for Asian cinema. She sees “The Sympathizer” as a significant stride towards this goal.

While “The Sympathizer” is not the first attempt at narrating a story from a Vietnamese perspective, previous attempts have been less successful due to lingering war tensions. In January 1994, when Le Ly Hayslip, author of “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places,” visited Orange County to promote the Oliver Stone film based on her memoir, many protestors labeled her a traitor. The film was touted as the first about the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective, but anticommunist protesters were outraged that she had assisted Viet Cong soldiers.

The premiere of “The Sympathizer” comes just two weeks before the 49th anniversary of the fall of Saigon on April 30, known as Black April or Tháng tư đen in Vietnamese. The Vietnam War, the second-longest in U.S. history, resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people and American soldiers. For those who fought for the South and were displaced, the wounds from the war remain fresh.

“Viet sensationalized events to fit the American spy novel, making the show captivating for viewers. He wrote from the perspective of a Viet Cong communist operative, leading to a depiction of the South Vietnamese as corrupt and cruel,” said Quan Nguyen, a physician and director of the Museum of the Republic of Vietnam, a nonprofit organization in Little Saigon, Orange County. It was established in 2016 to honor veterans who fought for South Vietnam and to educate future generations.

“This could reopen a lot of deep wounds within our anticommunist community,” says Quan Nguyen, whose father was an army physician.

Jenny Thai, 58, a guest at the viewing party from Garden Grove, agrees. Thai said it has inspired her to make a film of her own that highlights South Vietnamese heroes. She recalls when she was a child in Vietnam, in the final days of the war, everyone was huddled around the radio and the announcement came that Saigon had fallen, and the adults around her broke down in tears. Weeks later, all the men and women associated with the former regime were sent to reeducation camps. She says her family later escaped Vietnam by boat in 1990.

“Most of the Saigoners stayed home and listened to the radio. It was the only way we could follow what was going on,” says Thai, who has produced short films. “Only a small portion of those who worked with the embassy or with U.S. officers knew about the evacuation.”

She adds, “I’m anticommunist, but I don’t hate the Northerners. We are all Vietnamese; we are all brothers and sisters from the same country. It’s the politics that destroyed us, the war.”

Despite the differing opinions, “The Sympathizer” has nonetheless sparked discussions about representation in Hollywood, how the story of the war is told, and by whom. Ysa Le, executive director of the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association, a nonprofit that co-hosted a “Sympathizer” screening and press meeting with the show’s cast in Orange a week before its debut, says she welcomes the series.

“For the first time, we have so many Vietnamese talents, both in front of and behind the camera working on this American series,” said Le, 53, a pharmacist in Fountain Valley. She was 5 when the war ended, and her father was sent to a reeducation camp for six years after being unable to flee Vietnam.

“It could inspire aspiring filmmakers to pursue their own projects,” Le said.

Phong Dinh, 91, a former two-term councilman of the seaside resort city of Vung Tau, Vietnam, who spent three years in a reeducation camp, said he understands the antipathy toward the communists, but the spy character created by Viet Thanh Nguyen and depicted in the series doesn’t bother him.

“It was a well-known fact they infiltrated our government since President [Ngo Dinh] Diem’s regime, and continued with President [Nguyen Van] Thieu,” he said. A father of seven, Dinh experienced tragedy after the war, losing his youngest daughter to malaria because no medication was available, and his wife suffered permanent hearing damage from an artillery explosion near their home.

Now a Huntington Beach resident, Dinh joined his youngest son, Viet, former Fox Corp. chief legal officer and U.S. assistant attorney general, to watch the premiere episode. He gave it an A+.

“Our people have suffered immeasurably. I’m blessed to have my family. I want my children and their children to be good citizens, contribute to society in America and help our people,” he said. “If this TV series opens doors for our younger Vietnamese, then it’s worth it.”