{"id":23589,"date":"2021-06-11T14:51:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T21:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=23589"},"modified":"2021-06-25T12:37:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T19:37:38","slug":"filmmakers-show-how-agent-orange-catastrophe-did-not-end-with-the-vietnam-war","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/filmmakers-show-how-agent-orange-catastrophe-did-not-end-with-the-vietnam-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmakers Show How Agent Orange Catastrophe Did Not End with the Vietnam War"},"content":{"rendered":"

The well-oiled, three-person machine behind The People vs. Agent Orange<\/strong><\/em><\/a> each brought their manifold backgrounds to the table in order to put together a film that involved equal parts investigative journalism, humanistic portrait of victims and fighters, and suspense thriller\/detective story. Alan Adelson<\/strong>\u00a0and his partner in film and life Kate Taverna<\/strong> previously made the historic documentaries In Bed with Ulysses<\/em> and Lodz Ghetto,<\/em> but beyond that, Taverna has edited more than 50 independent feature docs, shorts and broadcast films over a career spanning more than 35 years, including the acclaimed Pray the Devil Back to Hell<\/i>, while Adelson wrote investigative articles in Esquire<\/em> and The Wall Street Journal.<\/em>\u00a0 Their collaborator V\u00e9ronique Bernard<\/strong> has produced numerous documentaries across the globe.<\/p>\n

Together they’ve told a story nearly 60 years in the making: how the use of chemicals in warfare in Vietnam continued a devastating, pernicious legacy for decades to come, and how two women bravely took on the chemical industry to demand accountability.<\/p>\n

“The People vs. Agent Orange<\/em> has a gripping urgency, especially as a reminder that the history of chemicals’ effects on our bodies is still being written and fought over, and that what a secretive industry is allowed to cover up, it will,” wrote Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers collaborated on this interview for us as well, to talk about who did what in making People vs. Agent Orange<\/em>, provide an update on the case the film’s co-star Tran To Nga brought into French courts and on how the two women are doing now, and reveal whether they think chemical corporations ever lose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

What inspired your storytelling choice? Why was it important to focus on the parallel stories of these brave women, instead of focusing on just one?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alan<\/b>: Wow, good for you to dive right in with such a discerning and challenging question!<\/span><\/p>\n

My work on the documentary has stretched out for more than a decade.\u00a0 It all began at a party.\u00a0 A young actress approached me: \u201cSo you make documentaries.\u00a0 I just got back from Vietnam where I was a volunteer at an orphanage for children deformed by Agent Orange.\u00a0 They are the saddest human beings on earth and no one even knows about them.\u00a0 You have to make a film about them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I was resistant. Agent Orange seemed like an old problem in this world with many new ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

But she persisted, showing me photographs of the deformed children she had cared for.\u00a0 Children with huge\u00a0 heads swollen from water on their brains.\u00a0 Withered, uselessly bent limbs.\u00a0 Fused fingers and toes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tran

Tran To Nga marches with Agent Orange victims, families and supporters in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam<\/p><\/div>\n

The investigative reporter in me was aroused.\u00a0 If it could be shown that these poor humans had resulted from conscious decisions made by corporations that sacrificed human health and well-being for the sake of profits, this might be a cautionary tale worth telling, whatever the necessary time and effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

A year\u2019s research into the internal chemical company correspondence that had become part of the court records gathered in the course of \u201cdiscovery\u201d in the major Agent Orange court cases substantiated that the manufacturers of Agent Orange were indeed aware of the dioxin contamination and were even conspiring to cover it up, not to lose a hugely profitable cash cow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kate: <\/strong>It was a good two years later that Madame Tran filed her lawsuit in France against what were then 26 American chemical companies.\u00a0 We flew to France to interview this amazingly beautiful and determined woman and began building her story in the context of the corporate malfeasance we had already substantiated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two more years into the process, we learned of Carol Van Strum\u2019s amazing work organizing against the aerial spraying of toxic herbicides in coastal Oregon.\u00a0 We were shocked to learn that even after the US military had ceased using Agent Orange because it was making our troops ill and was resulting in deformed births in their offspring, it was being used by the forestry industry in America\u2019s Pacific Northwest.\u00a0 That was something few Americans were aware of then, and is still <\/span>relatively unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

But here were two heroic women activists fighting the chemical companies from countries on both sides of the War in Vietnam.\u00a0 Tran\u2019s lawsuit and the fight Van Strum was leading against herbicides in America would give the investigation contemporary relevance from both American and Vietnamese points of view.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Filmmakers

Filmmakers Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson<\/p><\/div>\n

Can you talk about the contemporary ramifications for this story? We have been going through a period where belief in science is at the center of most of our discussions, so I’m also curious how this rising movement in skepticism, or refusal to believe scientists, can relate to the story in this<\/em> film, too?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Alan<\/b>: Yes, the disbelief and obfuscation of the threats Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides pose has been fundamental in enabling the continued use of the chemicals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists began questioning the chemical war in Vietnam early on–to little or no avail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Operation Ranch Hand, the American Air Force\u2019s defoliation and food contamination campaign went on for a decade.\u00a0 Arthur Galston, a Yale scientist who had helped devise the formula for Agent Orange, led the campaign to stop its use on civilians, calling it \u201cecocide,\u201d a term that is now a rallying call among environmental activists who are trying to codify environmental destruction as a new crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

V\u00e9ronique<\/b>: To defend themselves, the chemical company scientists have insisted that the cancers and deformities being cited as the consequences of exposure to toxic herbicides were not caused by their chemicals. There are many ways to contract cancers, and many other factors can cause deformities. In the film, Andr\u00e9 Bouny, the prime mover in Madame Tran\u2019s French lawsuit [and author of the book Agent Orange – Apocalypse Vi\u00eat Nam<\/em>], quotes the chemical companies\u2019 defense that there is no \u201cproof\u201d of what causes the illnesses and deformities. He answers: \u201cThe victims are the proof.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Along those lines, what conversations would you like people to have after they watch your film? And where can they go to learn more?<\/b><\/p>\n

Carol Van Strum receives a cheering ovation from an assembly of environmental law students when she says \u201cWe have a right to protect ourselves from being poisoned.\u201d And that \u201cif corporations have human rights according to the Supreme Court, they should be subject to capital punishment just like an individual would be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But in fact American communities today do not have the right to protect themselves because state laws are \u201cpre-empting\u201d and overturning local bans\u2014against aerial spraying of herbicides in the Pacific northwest, and against fracking in Pennsylvania and many other states.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film has been in virtual festival and cinema release for nine months prior to the PBS broadcast. Viewers are responding with outrage and incredulity that the environmental and health catastrophe is continuing.\u00a0 They are asking, How can our government allow this to go on?\u00a0 And what can we do to stop it?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Carol

Carol Van Strum with her rescue donkeys and horse at her home in Oregon. [Credit: Ken Gagne]<\/p><\/div>We earnestly hope communities will be inspired by the activism of Tran To Nga and Carol Van Strum and the many people who are working with them to change the political dynamics to diminish the influence of corporate lobbyists and to empower the people to decide what\u2019s best for them and their communities.\u00a0 We hope that if nothing else, The People vs. Agent Orange<\/em> will awaken people around the world to shake off their environmental passivity and to fight actively for their health and their environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our resources page<\/span><\/a> will bring viewers to listings of some of the many organizations working on environmental issues and in support of the victims. Tens of thousands of people are working already to bring about the changes the documentary shows to be so necessary. But it will take millions of activists who are as committed to bringing about change as Tran To Nga and Carol Van Strum. Politicians are always referring to \u201cour children\u201d and what is necessary for the world they will inherit from us. Without fundamental change, they and their children and their children\u2019s children will be carrying increased susceptibility to disease and deformity as a result of the exposure by our generation to toxins.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Filmmaker

Filmmaker V\u00e9ronique Bernard<\/p><\/div>\n

This is a beautifully made but rightfully unsparing film. Both women are very compelling protagonists and you get to know their personal journeys a bit\u2014is that how you approached bringing audiences into it who may be scared off from watching this kind of story otherwise?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Alan<\/b>: Yes, you are onto some of our strategic editing strategies.\u00a0 Carol Van Strum\u2019s humorous recollections of the early letters she wrote as a child to urge people to protect the birds being killed in the Second World War and how she \u201cbecame an activist,\u201d and Tran To Nga\u2019s poignant description of being a young mother working for Vietnamese liberation, only to be sprayed by Agent Orange and to lose her first-born…These are wonderfully human moments we hope will enhance viewers\u2019 connections with the film\u2014through its leading protagonists.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

And we have remarked ourselves at common traits in our characters. Carol Van Strum and whistle-blower James Clary are both rescuers of animals, taking in donkeys, and horses and dogs and birds that are in need of care.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t help wonder if the same humane traits have encouraged them to \u201cblow the whistle\u201d on those who contaminate our environment and threaten our health while caring for otherwise helpless animals.<\/span><\/p>\n