Vietnam says actor not jailed; penalty mulled

Vietnamese actor Don Duong, branded a “national traitor” for a role in a movie about the Vietnam War starring Mel Gibson, has not been jailed, but authorities were considering how he would be punished, a spokesman for the Vietnamese government said Thursday.

“The movie ‘We Were Soldiers’ did not reflect correctly the truth of history of the just war by the Vietnamese people, not forming the image of the soldier of the Vietnamese People’s Army,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said in Hanoi.

The movie depicts a 1965 battle in which men from the 7th Air Cavalry led by Lt. Col. Hal Moore, played by Gibson, triumphed over a more experienced and much larger North Vietnamese force. Duong played the role of the senior Vietnamese military officer.

Responding to media reports that Duong has been jailed for his movie roles, Thanh said, “Actor Don Duong is not arrested, not in jail or barred from traveling, as reported.” A senior official at the department of cinematography under the Culture and Information Ministry said authorities were considering what punishment Duong would get but had made no final decision.

Duong, 45, lives in southern Ho Chi Minh City and could not be reached for comment.