Places | |
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Accession Number | F10474 |
Collection type | Film |
Measurement | 54 min 4 sec |
Object type | Documentary |
Physical description | 16mm |
Maker |
Judge, Robin Pringle, Ruth Connolly, Bob Perry, David Bradbury, David Young, Stewart Davis, Neil Brian Bradbury, David Lee, Lindsay Wykes, Denise Midnight Oil Oxenburgh, Richard Bradbury, David Manning, Clifford |
Place made | Australia |
Date made | 1979 |
Conflict |
Period 1970-1979 Vietnam, 1962-1975 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Unlicensed copyright |
Frontline
David Bradbury's documentary film on Australian television news cameraman/correspondent Neil Davis and his experience of the war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Davis had spent 11 years covering the war mainly for Visnews and, later towards the end of the conflict, as freelance cameraman. He saw the escalation of the war from the direct American involvement in 1964 to the fall of the governments in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Davis was the only western journalist to film the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam during the North Vietnamese invasion in 1975 and his footage taken of the North Vietnamese tanks crashing trough the gates of Presidential Palace has become one of the iconic images of that war. Bradbury skilfully combines contemporary interviews with Davis shot in Australia and Thailand with period film, much of which is made up of Davis's own striking footage filmed in front line combat. The story of the war and Davis's sympathy for Vietnamese and Cambodian people and personal ethic to portray the truth emerge in the interview segments. Davis was committed to trying to show the war from the Vietnamese and Cambodian perspective to try and balance the coverage by the broadcasting networks which tended to show only the United States involvement. Frontline has won numerous awards and was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for best documentary.