Those screenings can also be an illustration of just how much audiences want Burns and Novick to validate their experiences. At one in Washington this year, I found myself sitting next to Tran Ngoc Hue, a South Vietnamese second lieutenant who spent 13 years in prison after his battalion suffered heavy casualties and he was captured by the North Vietnamese at the battle of Tchepone in Laos. During the question-and-answer period, Hue, who was interviewed for the series, came to the microphone to tell Burns and Novick that he was concerned that the film wouldn't give enough credit to the United States for what it had attempted in Vietnam. It's unusual to see filmmakers try to reassure one of their subjects from the stage, but that's exactly what Burns and Novick did. They didn't promise him that the film would argue that the United States should have stayed in Vietnam, which it doesn't, but they did tell him that the series takes seriously America's broken commitment to South Vietnam, which it does.