Return With Honor

Filmmakers Freida Lee Mock and Terry Sanders, who won an Oscar for their Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1995), incorporated previously unseen enemy propaganda films into this documentary reflection on the experiences of American POWs in North Vietnam. After scenes of U.S. military personnel during training, the film explores the memories of middle-aged former POWs, including top-ranked Korean War ace Robbie Risner and Ev Alvarez, the first American to be shot down in North Vietnam (on Aug. 5, 1964). The film recounts beatings and torture in the Hanoi Hotel prison, methods of resistance, codes for communication, the 1973 negotiations which led to the release of U.S. servicemen, and the emotional homecoming. In addition to archival footage and photos, footage shot by Viet Cong filmmakers, recently released by the Vietnamese government, shows captures, planes going down, cell interiors, POWs paraded through Hanoi streets -- which precisely illustrates the present-day memories of events. Shown at the 1998 Mill Valley Film Festival.