On Healing Land, Birds Perch (2025)

-Written by Kyle Bain. 

On February 1, 1968 Eddie Adams made history when he took the infamous “Saigon Execution” photo that shook the world. That photograph propelled numerous movements that altered the history of Vietnam forever. However, just as powerful as was the cultural impact of Adams’ photograph, was the effect it had on the families of the subjects of the picture. On Healing Land, Birds Perch is an emotional telling of the lasting impact that this photograph had not just on a nation, but on the individuals who saw themselves and their loved ones in the photograph. 

On Healing Land, Birds Perch is incredibly heavy, sure to resonate with viewers and allow them to understand and appreciate the gravity of all that took place in Vietnam over the years. The photo alone is enough for viewers to understand the severity of the Vietnam War (if you weren’t already familiar), but On Healing Land, Birds Perch continues to dive deeper, providing viewers with first-person accounts of how a single photo altered the trajectory of a series of families. As we hear a series of stories from children to grandchildren and beyond, On Healing Land, Birds Perch continues to find new ways to entrance viewers, to hit them over the head with an emotional mallet. The film never falters in this regard, unwavering in its attempt to make this documentary as emotionally transformative as possible. 

It’s not often that I walk away from a documentary and feel that I’ve changed. I’m effectively set in my ways at this point in my life, and while there’s always room for improvement, I can’t say that I typically walk away from documentaries with an altered perspective or mindset. On Healing Land, Birds Perch may not have changed the way I’ll go about my life, but it has afforded me the opportunity to look beyond. As the film opens and we are exposed to the infamous photograph for the first time, it’s clear the way in which we are meant to feel about the two men depicted in that photo. 

General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is clearly the antagonist in this photograph, with his victim, Nguyễn Vãn Lém, being just that, the victim. While, in the simplest of terms, this is the truth–there is more to the story than can be presented in a single photograph. As the short documentary moves on, it touches on a series of instances that allow viewers to reshape their opinion, even after they’ve effectively been told how to feel in the early going. On Healing Land, Birds Perch opens the door to free thinking by its conclusion, something that didn’t appear to be on the menu at the film’s start. 

On Healing Land, Birds Perch doesn’t waste time after the introduction. We are provided the breadcrumbs, shown the way, and then immediately we see a shift in the narrative present in this short documentary. The film doesn’t force any opinions (as proven by the closing statements just before the credits roll), and it allows viewers to see multiple sides of the story without feeling like they’ve been pointed in a specific direction. On Healing Land, Birds Perch is a testament to documentary filmmaking, and a masterclass of what they should look like. 

Directed by Naja Phạm Lockwood. 

8.5/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING