March 2007

Talking About Movies: Views of Vietnam Life in Post-War Vietnam Films

By Frank Beaver

In my column last month I talked about American-made films which I found admirable because of their sympathetic treatment of Vietnamese people who had been a part of the Vietnam War. Since the end of the war, there has also been a growing increase in and availability of motion pictures made by Vietnamese directors, many of which have moved away from the war as a primary focus. These films are delightful and important because of the manner in which they depict "average" Vietnamese, and doing so in a style which reflects the unique cultural and artistic traditions of the country. For cineastes interested in national cinema, these films are worthy of attention. There are several I would recommend as essential viewing.
  
The most powerful and widely distributed post-war Vietnamese films—films about Vietnamese people leading their everyday lives—have been produced and directed by "Viet-Kieu" directors, Vietnamese directors living "overseas."  

Tran Anh Hung, who was born in Vietnam in 1962 and who moved with his parents to Paris at age 13, is the most prominent and prolific of the "Viet Kieu " directors. Tran has made three widely-acclaimed films that depict Vietnamese life in different time periods and in different circumstances.
 
"The Scent of Green Papaya" (1992) is the two "chapter" story of a Vietnamese girl—Mui—who is sent to Saigon in 1951 to work as a domestic in a middle-class household. She's 10 years old when she arrives to help her host family with the cooking and other routine chores. Mui finds great pleasure in the world around her, inside the house and outside in the garden. To convey Mui's innocent joy in life Tran Anh Hung remains almost entirely with the girl's point-of-view, giving the viewer a display of imagery that is both sensual and poetic. Sounds, music, light, colors, and architectural textures are captured in such a way as to make the film virtually a tone poem. The second "chapter" of the story begins in 1961 when Mui is sent to work for a handsome young pianist whom she has secretly come to love during his visits over the years to her host family's home. Now 20 years old and a beautiful young woman, Mui nonetheless retains the same joyous pleasure in the world around her, this spirited personality leading ultimately to new promise and fulfillment. "The Scent of Green Papaya" was awarded the Camera d'Or prize at Cannes in 1993, a testimony to the film's visual power. It was also the first Vietnamese film to be submitted for consideration for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

"Cyclo" (1995), Tran Anh Hung's second film, is the dark story of an 18-year old orphan in modern-day Saigon who lives in poverty with his grandfather and two sisters. When first introduced, the boy is striving to earn money in the highly competitive business of cyclo driving. When a gang of thieves steals his rented cyclo, the setback forces the boy into the ugly world of organized crime, a world that embraces the prostitution of young women—including his older sister. "Cyclo," like "The Scent of Green Papaya," is filled with highly impressionistic, poetic imagery, but in this case that imagery reveals the harsh and often violent struggle for survival in Saigon's back alleys. Tran also uses music, songs and voice-over poetry to make the film a distinctly Vietnamese artistic experience.

"The Vertical Ray of the Sun" (2000) is Tran Anh Hung's return to the lyrical poetic imagery and character nuances that made "The Scent of Green Papaya" so memorable. This third film is set in modern-day Hanoi during a month in which three sisters and their brother observe the anniversaries of the deaths of their mother and father. During the interval, we see each family member experiencing introspective self-examination—self-analysis triggered by the memory of their parents' relationships and set against their own relationships with spouses and lovers. Short on plot, the film is more a reflection on the spiritual and philosophical implications of love, past and present. The screen is rich in colors, sounds, music, images of food, flowers, objects, faces—again, aural and visual displays that are sensual and evocative. "The Vertical Ray of the Sun" is a film that in effect resembles an extended series of haiku poems. Like each of Tran's films, it conveys the work of a director dedicated to capturing the special rhythms and images that help define Vietnamese life.

Another "Viet-Kieu" director of note is Tony Bui, now an American citizen who was born in Vietnam in 1973 and who migrated to California with his parents. In 1999 Bui returned to Saigon to make "Three Seasons," a film about modern-day Vietnam which he wrote as well as directed.

"Three Seasons" employs a multi-character story form in which the lives of four people in Saigon are intercut. Kien An is a young Vietnamese woman who harvests lotus blossoms and sells them in the streets of Saigon. Her singing of a "ca dao" ("worker's ballad"), while collecting her blossoms in a lotus pond attracts the attention of a reclusive poet whom she inspires. Hai, a second character, is a young Vietnamese man who transports a beautiful prostitute in his cyclo to Saigon's various hotels and falls in love with her in the process.  Also working the city's streets is Woody, a 10 year old urchin who peddles his wares from a valise which he loses one night in a bar. A frantic search for its recovery takes place in the misty, rain-drenched Saigon nights. Also in Saigon is James Hager, an ex-American G.I. who has returned to Vietnam in hopes of finding the daughter he left behind during the war. The intermingling of the four stories results in a captivating film that touches on realities of contemporary Vietnamese life. Like Tran Anh Hung, Bui also incorporates Vietnamese music and poetry that speaks to the land's unique rhythms and cultural traditions. "Three Seasons" was the first film to receive both the Grand Prize and the Audience Award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. It also won the top prize for cinematography.

It's wonderful that Vietnamese film artists are now expressing the character of their people and the uniqueness of their country for all the world to see, and at the same time incorporating traditional music and poetry as an important part of the narrative experiences.  This is another important movement away from a distant war.    

Film historian and critic Frank Beaver is professor of film and video studies and professor of communication.