Vietnamese actor Don Duong, under virtual house arrest since Vietnamese authorities labelled him a traitor, has written an impassioned letter to his sons in which he defends his work.
The actor, once one of Vietnam's top stars, was branded a "national traitor" in September by Vietnam's Ministry of Culture and Information.
Authorities seized Duong's passport after viewing two movies in which he appeared: the Vietnam War film We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson, and Green Dragon, about Vietnamese refugees, co-starring Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker.
The ministry has recommended that Duong be forbidden from leaving the country and banned from acting for five years, but his fate has yet to be determined.
Duong, 45, lives in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, with his two sons, ages 16 and 11. He wrote the letter so they "can know the truth, to affirm that I am always and forever not a traitor," according to the letter, which Duong's U.S. relatives made available to The Los Angeles Times.
In the letter, Duong says Vietnamese officials have mistaken movies for reality. AP