Prof. Salim Yaqub of the UCSB History Department will be providing commentary and leading a Q & A session.

Harrison Carter MacWhite (Marlon Brando) is the new U.S. ambassador to Sarkhan, an imaginary country in Southeast Asia.  Sarkhan is wracked by nationalist ferment, which MacWhite initially attributes to communist subversion.  Eventually, however, MacWhite comes see that the politics of Sarkhan are far more complex than he realized, and that even well-intentioned U.S. policies can alienate the very people they are designed to help.  Released in 1963, the film uncannily foreshadows the U.S. debacle in Vietnam.