A Strange Street Theater. Hanoi, Vietnam 1968 During The Bombing

This 16mm film clip was recorded in 1968 on the streets of Hanoi, North Vietnam. I was not a cameraman on this. I would appreciate a Vietnamese subscriber giving us a sense of what is being said here. I do believe that this was designed to train the North Vietnamese citizenry to see the USA as the enemy and have the fortitude to defeat them. Street theater or guerrilla theater as it’s often called, is a form of public protest that became very popular during the 1960s in the USA and in Vietnam as well. It employs performance and spectacle to convey political messages in a satirical or provocative way. Street theater would take place in public spaces, like parks or streets, where a large audience could gather. Street theater was a method of resistance and protest. In the United States, groups such as the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Living Theatre and the Yippies were known for their use of guerrilla theater to protest the war. In North Vietnam the cultural responses to the war were state-directed. The North Vietnamese government would present public performances using them to bolster morale and convey propaganda messages. Songs, stories, and theatrical performances were employed to this end. This street theater was organized by the government and focused on promoting resistance and resilience against the American bombings, which were a constant part of life in North Vietnam at this time.