War Hawke Reports for Duty

Apple TV+ has released the trailer for a new documentary on the Vietnam War that streams from January 31.

Narrated by Ethan Hawke, Vietnam: The War That Changed America features “epic true stories” through rare archival footage and moving reunions.

Here’s the media release:

The series commemorates the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, offering a deeply human look at the lives of those who lived through one of the most divisive conflicts in American history.

Vietnam: The War That Changed America weaves together powerful first-person testimony, never-before-seen archival footage, and emotional reunions between veterans, some of whom haven’t seen each other in nearly half a century, to bring them healing, remembrance, and reconciliation.

Filmmakers pulled from over 1,100 hours of archival footage to take viewers behind the headlines, into the lives of soldiers, civilians on all sides of the conflict, anti-war protestors, and survivors to provide a raw portrait of a nation torn apart by war.

Across six episodes, a picture also builds of the profound changes to the United States itself, and the very different country that emerged from the war.

Some of the featured voices include:

• Bill Broyles, a celebrated Hollywood screenwriter and Lieutenant in the war who reunites with a member of his platoon after 50 years;
• Hilary Brown, ABC News’ first female foreign correspondent who covered the fall of Saigon firsthand;
• Melvin Pender, the Olympic gold-medal winning runner who competed in 1968 between tours in Vietnam;
• soldiers from the Viet Cong who fought in the Tet Offensive, including the first Viet Cong woman in her district to shoot down an enemy aircraft;
• a veteran who thought his life was over, forced to parachute into the Ho Chi Minh trail, who reunites with the man who rescued him; and
• Vietnamese civilians who witnessed and fled from the war.

Vietnam: The War That Changed America is produced for Apple TV+ by the BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning team at 72 Films, directed by Rob Coldstream (John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial) and produced by Caroline Marsden (9/11: One Day in America), with executive producers David Glover (9/11: One Day in America) and Mark Raphael (Crime and Punishment).