e 16 mars 1968, en pleine guerre du Vietnam, dans le village de My Lai, les soldats américains de la Charlie Company exécutent 504 civils. Des femmes, des enfants, des vieillards. Étouffé par l’armée, le massacre restera secret jusqu’en novembre 1969. La presse s’empare de l’affaire. Des photos insoutenables font le tour du monde et l’opinion publique bascule. Quarante ans plus tard, ce film suit les traces qu’a laissées ce terrible événement chez ceux qui l’ont vécu.

 

On March 16, 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, American soldiers of the Charlie Company executed 504 civilians in the village of My Lai. Women, children, old people. Hushed up by the army, the massacre remained a secret until November 1969. The press got hold of the affair. Unbearable photos of the killings were shown around the world, reshaping public perceptions. Forty years on, this film examines the traces this terrible event left on its main characters: Fred Widmer, former GI in the Charlie Company, Ron Haeberle, the photographer who exposed the massacre, Larry Colburn, a former GI who intervened to stop the massacre. He returns to My Lai to meet the Vietnamese survivors. In the snow-bound suburbs of Cleveland, in an ordinary high school in Pittsburgh and in the glittering rice fields of My Lai, the film delves into their minds and evokes the ghosts that still haunt them all.