SYNOPSIS
AFTER THE FALL documents two American journalists' trip to (and unexpected expulsion from) Vietnam to cover the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
Sharing a common interest in the country that profoundly impacted their families, Tom Bissell -the son of John Bissell, a US Marine Captain who served in the war- and Morgan Meis -the son of Bill Meis, a war resister who moved to Canada to protest the draft- return to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to attend the anniversary ceremonies with the formerly black-listed Vice President of South Vietnam.
Unbeknownst to them, their activities are being monitored by the Vietnamese Secret Police, and after meeting with a "subversive" contemporary artist in Hanoi, Tom And Morgan get an all-too-real glimpse into the experiences that weighed so heavily on their fathers, with their own encounter ending in a minor international incident.
Featuring interviews with both fathers and sons, AFTER THE FALL offers views from both sides of the conflict and explores the cultural, political and personal implications of the war and its legacy.
61 min - 2008 - USA/Vietnam - English - Color
CAST
TOM BISSELL
Himself
JOHN BISSELL
Himself
MORGAN MEIS
Himself
BILL MEIS
Himself
TRAN LUONG
Himself
Tom Bissell is the author of Chasing the Sea (named by Conde Nast Traveler as one of the 86 greatest travel books of all time), God Lives in St. Petersburg (winner of the Rome Prize), and The Father of All Things. He is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine and the Virginia Quarterly Review, and his work has appeared in many magazines, including The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, and Granta. He currently lives in Las Vegas, where he is a fellow at UNLV's Black Mountain Institute.
Morgan Meis is a founding member of Flux Factory, an arts collective in New York City. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the New School and is an editor of 3quarksdaily.com, a filter blog treating literature, science, and the arts. He is the author of a weekly column at The Smart Set (thesmartset.com) called Idle Chatter and has written for the Believer, Harper's, and VQR.
John Bissell was born in 1942 in Escanaba, Michigan, where he also grew up. He graduated third in his class in high school and attended Georgetown University, graduating with a BSBA in 1963. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in March 1964, served in Vietnam, and was discharged in July 1967. Upon leaving the Marine Corps he took a position as a Trust Officer and presently serves as a Senior Vice President and Trust Officer at First Bank in Escanaba, Michigan.
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