Regret to Inform (1998)

Synopsis: Regret to Inform portrays the lasting devastation of war through the eyes of women. Interweaving archival footage and photographs with present-day images, Regret to Inform tells stories of love... Regret to Inform portrays the lasting devastation of war through the eyes of women. Interweaving archival footage and photographs with present-day images, Regret to Inform tells stories of love cut short and the lasting effects of war on the people left behind.

On her 24th birthday, Barbara Sonneborn received word that her husband, Jeff, had been killed in Vietnam. They had been sweethearts since she was fourteen. Twenty years after her husband was killed, Sonneborn embarks on a journey through the country where he fought and died. Woven into her personal odyssey are interviews with American and Vietnamese widows, from both sides of the conflict, who speak openly about the men they loved and how war changed their lives forever.

What started out as a letter to her late husband over ten years ago has become a public statement on the personal toll of war. Accompanying Barbara Sonneborn on her journey is Xuan Ngoc Evans, a South Vietnamese widow. Evans and the many other widows interviewed illuminate the horrors of war for all those who have only imagined what it was like in Vietnam.

Deeply personal yet vastly universal, Regret to Inform gives human faces to the nameless casualties of war. -- © Artistic License Films [More]

Director: Barbara Sonneborn

Director: Barbara Sonneborn