Le Ly lives in a small Vietnamese village whose serenity is shattered when war breaks out. Caught between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, the village is all but destroyed. After being both brutalized and raped, Le Ly resolves to flee. She leaves for the city, surviving desperate situations, but surviving nonetheless. Eventually she meets a U.S. Marine named Steve Butler who treats her kindly and tells her he would like to be married -- maybe to her.
The soldiers shoot at the dogs direction at night we Can hear the dogs screams in pain,they doesn't show dead, but we can see the dogs running at the panic
Starting at about 34:55 after the main character is held over an open grave by two men, they shove her down into the mud and then she is assaulted on-screen until about 35:35. It cuts to other images in between such as grass, it is over when she's standing silhouetted against a dark blue sky/landscape.
Women are taken from a bus at 1:26:10 and return at 1:26:23 all beat up from being raped, you don't actually see the rape, it's heavily implied. You may want to skip to about 1:26:37 if you don't want to see the injured women after they get back on the bus. When Steve puts a gun to Le Ly's head she experiences flashbacks to the rape which we also see.
As this film is based on a memoir of a real person who lived through this (she has a cameo in the film) women aren't abused for the spectacle of the viewers of the film. However situations occur where women are abused/mistreated and in the actual situation it was partly for spectacle. For example when she is taken prisoner and tortured publicly with other women, the public nature of this draws spectacle of the characters to humiliate the women. There are instances of women being raped, murdered, and mistreated throughout the film.
2:00:30 - 2:01:00 Steve (Le Ly's husband) commits suicide with a gun in a van after she calls him and says she wants to help him and that she loves him. She runs up to the van at night in the rain and we see his nude body (no visible genitalia), they show the body twice.
You'll see a man in a bright yellow raincoat and her sister will say "he killed himself" right before she sees him.
At about 1:50:00 - 1:50:13 Steve threatens to kill himself by putting a gun in his mouth while arguing with Le Ly (removes the gun then they continue to talk).
2:00:30 - 2:01:00 Steve (Le Ly's husband) commits suicide with a gun in a van after she calls him and says she wants to help him and that she loves him. She runs up to the van at night in the rain and we see his nude body (no visible genitalia), they show the body twice.
You'll see a man in a bright yellow raincoat and her sister will say "he killed himself" right before she sees him.
At about 1:50:00 - 1:50:13 Steve threatens to kill himself by putting a gun in his mouth while arguing with Le Ly (removes the gun then they continue to talk).
In a torture scene when Le Ly is imprisoned, ants are put on the three womens feet and snakes are put down their tops. You don't see any biting, the snakes are fairly small, but there are 3 snakes.
20:49 - 21:22 Le Ly has a dream where her brother is intentionally thrown from a helicopter by a soldier while being interrogated, they then grab and threaten her and she wakes up.
It is mentioned when Le Ly's mother suspects that Le Ly is pregnant after she has sex with Anh (her employer at the time). It's not a graphic or lengthy mention, and you never see any menstruation.
You don't see the act of amputation, however when Le Ly returns to her village towards the middle of the film you see people who have lost limbs. Any wounds have healed though.
Steve mentions slitting someone's throat as he talks to Le Ly after he threatens to kill himself. While he does this we see a flashback where it happens.
The herbalist (after Le Ly is found out to be pregnant by her mother) makes Le Ly jump on each step down some stairs, she doesn't fall but it might make you worry if you're concerned about this.
When Le Ly and her mother move to Saigon she gets a job working as a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy man, and his wife. He claims he cares about her to get her to have sex with him. She then becomes pregnant and though they try to stop the pregnancy, this is unsuccessful. The wife finds out and is angry, Le Ly and her mother are then sent away at the wife's request. The man and Le Ly hug/kiss at about 40:10 - 40:57 then he gets changed and at about 41:10 - 42:04 is the sex scene (no visible nudity).
Cheating is also mentioned when an American soldier is offering her money for sex with 2 of his soldiers, one of whom we are told is about to go home to his wife.
Steve and Le Ly are arguing and he threatens her by holding one of the guns to her head. Shortly before this she slaps him after he starts getting guns out of the cabinet (he "drinks and shoots" according to her so the guns aren't out specifically to threaten her).
It's implied, we briefly hear a pig squealing off screen early in the film, this might be the pig being killed, or it could be someone moving it in a hurry/roughly. This movie is about war, and we do see animals in areas affected by the war. None are dead though.
There's blood and torture. You see sprays of blood from a distance as people are shot but it isn't lots and doesn't last long. People get beaten and have small bits of blood on their faces and bruising. People are tortured with ants and snakes, and shocked with electricity. When Steve commits suicide there is some blood visible on the window. This stuff is throughout the film, but moreso in the first half.
Steve suffers from alcoholism caused by his PTSD from what haplened during the war. We see this towards the end of the film in multiple scenes after Le Ly and their family go to America.
Not a film to watch if this is one of your triggers as is shows the Vietnam war, and its effects. There are incidents involving gun use, or threats with guns throughout, particularly in the first two thirds or so of the film.
The father of Le Ly's first son has someome provision for them when they're sent away.
You could argue that Steve abandons his two sons when he commits suicide but it isn't about that and he shows prior to that that he wanted to stay with his family, his struggles (PTSD) just got to be too much.
The main character is restrained multiple times. She is taken prisoner and restrained by soldiers holding her arms and making her walk at about 26:38 - 27:05 as they take her from her home. The next shot at 27:05 shows her blindfolded and being led/dragged by her arms while standing by two soldiers. At about 27:50 she is restrained in a chair and electric shocked until roughly 29:12. We see a room full of people who are restrained (cuffed to metal bars on the floor by ankles) at 29:19 when they come to get her for further torture. Then from about 30:33 - 32:00 Le Ly and 2 other women are tied to a vertical pole and tortured. To skip the whole sequence it'd be roughly 26:38 - 32:00 as people are restrained for most of it. The southern soldiers are trying to find people who are or are helping the Viet Cong during this segment. She is released following this.
At about 34:55-35:35 Le Ly is restrained and raped by two Viet Cong men.
Le Ly, and Steve are the main portrayals, however many others do to including her mother and most of her family and village. You see Le Ly, and Steve experiencing flashbacks (we see the flashbacks too), having nightmares, and having their lives affected by this in several ways. Steve develops a drinking problem and then commits suicide.
It's clearly framed that the war is the cause of the violence, not mental illness, and that the war causes PTSD which causes more violence but ultimately that's still because of the war.
Steve owns guns and threatens to shoot Le Ly while drunk because of his PTSD. We don't see him being physically violent with her. There's also the implication and mention of other veterans being violent in similar situations, and many soldiers likely also have PTSD.
Slapped and more. This film follows a woman trying to survive through several bad situations in and caused by the Vietnam war so there would be quite a lot to be aware of/skip.
It is mentioned a couple of scenes after it happens to the main character (on-screen).
Women are taken from a bus at 1:26:10 and return at 1:26:23 all beat up from being raped, you don't actually see the rape, it's heavily implied. You may want to skip to about 1:26:37 if you don't want to see the injured women after they get back on the bus.
When Steve puts a gun to Le Ly's head she experiences flashbacks to the rape which we also see.
Starting at about 34:55 after the main character is held over an open grave by two men, they shove her down into the mud and then she is assaulted on-screen until about 35:35. It cuts to other images in between such as grass, it is over when she's standing silhouetted against a dark blue sky/landscape.
When Steve puts a gun to Le Ly's head she experiences flashbacks to the rape which we also see.
They do throw around words like crazy in reference to mental health because things weren't well understood and people didn't receive support. For example Steve calls himself crazy.
People say hateful things and use slurs regarding Vietnamese people. There are threats, and horrible racial stereotyping. People are talked about like they're not people. There's no big speech inciting a specific act of violence seen/heard in the film.
Steve is Christian, Le Ly is Buddhist. Buddhist beliefs and practices come up a few times throughout the film and they go to a church (we see this once and Steve references it when he takes the kids).
Le Ly vomits into a paper bag at about 1:26:03 while on a bus that has been stopped by South Vietnamese soldiers. She does this to avoid being raped. You don't actually see any vomit but you hear her gag/retch.
we Can hear the dogs screams in pain,they doesn't show dead, but we can see the dogs running at the panic