Hanoi - American film director Oliver Stone has arrived in Vietnam, where he visited the museum commemorating the My Lai massacres on Thursday morning. Stone arrived in Da Nang on Wednesday on a research trip for his next film project, Pinkville. The film will be based on the massacres in the village of My Lai, which US soldiers razed in March, 1968, killing between 300 and 500 civilians.
The massacres led to a military investigation and trial, and helped break the American public's support for the war.
Stone, who served as an infantryman in Vietnam, has made three previous films about the war: Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, and Heaven and Earth.
On his arrival in Da Nang Wednesday, Vietnamese newspaper Tuoi Tre quoted Stone as saying he was happy to be back in the country, and praising its rapid economic development.
On Thursday morning, Stone traveled to the former site of the villages at My Lai, known to the Vietnamese as Son My, which have been converted into a museum by the Vietnamese government. Pham Thanh Cong, director of the museum, said he was delighted by Stone's visit, which had taken him by surprise.
"It's special, because he's a veteran," Cong said. He said he hoped the film could be used "to educate younger generations about the crimes of American imperialism and its soldiers."
The massacres at My Lai were revealed in the US press over a year after they occurred. A US Army trial convicted just one of the officers responsible, Lieutenant William Calley, who served four months in prison.
"Pinkville" was the nickname given to My Lai by the US Army troops who annihilated the village. The film will reportedly star actor Bruce Willis.
