I watched two movies; The Quiet American and Good Morning, Vietnam! In the former, the main character was an English reporter (Thomas Fowler, played by Michael Caine), and while the American (Alden Pyle, played by Brendan Fraser) was not a small part, he wasn't explored as deeply as the lead. What we did learn about him was that he was leading a double life; he was an undercover CIA agent in Vietnam whose cover involved working as an eye doctor for the US aid program to Vietnam. While he was there, however, he fell in love with Fowler's mistress, the beautiful Vietnamese woman Phuong. Alden Pyle doesn't admit to either one of them the truth behind his presence in Vietnam, but the Englishman figures out who he is when he realizes the plastic substance which the American claims is being used for eyeglass frames turns out to be a key ingredient in a certain kind of explosive. This explosive is being used by a military force neither communist nor colonialist, a so-called "third force" in Pyle's words. When this explosive is used in a car bomb which kills a significant number "30 dead, Probably 20 more by the morning," Fowler puts two and two together.
How are the Vietnamese shown?.
The Vietnamese women in the movie are shown to be almost completely objectified by the American and European men they encounter. In The Quiet American, the main characters" conflict is based on a Vietnamese woman, who seems to have very little say in who she is with. Both men conceal things from her, and after being lied to and having the man she falls for murdered, she meekly returns to Thomas Fowler. Vietnamese men are all seen as potential enemy, which turns out to be true in Good Morning Vietnam. This is fairly historically accurate, as the Viet Cong had supporters everywhere and, as in the book The Ugly American, were simply better at international relations.
Does it show that violence and military action were necessary or unjustified?.