Vietnamese war films are failing to find audiences due to their unrealistic portrayals of recent conflicts in the nation’s history.
A scene of the film The scent of the burnt grass
Director Bui Tuan Dung said “I don’t like any war scene in Vietnamese films, even my films.”
On the occasion of Dien Bien Phu Victory, the government spent VND13 billion (USD619,047) to produce a war film. However, when the film was shown, it faced strong criticism from the mass media for its unrealistic scenes. For instance, soldiers were depicted fighting in lots of battles, but their uniforms appeared brand new.
One year ago, the film The scent of the burnt grass was honoured at the Golden Kite Award. The film depicted the fierce 81-day battle at Quang Tri Citadel during the American War. The film received technical support from the Vietnamese armed forces in order to help with the battle scenes. However, when it was shown, audiences decried the floating rubber-made corpses and fake battle scenes.
Director Nguyen Huu Phan said producers of Vietnamese war films were still struggling to create fierce war scenes, but had forgotten to focus on characterisation and the effects of war.
“Saving Private Ryan included several scenes that showed the seriousness of a battle, however, they used the story of a single soldier to show this,” he added. He noted that Vietnamese directors still failed to do this, resulting in boring films.
Director Hai Ninh said, “The theme of war has an important part in our cinema industry. It helps to show the national strength and pride.” But, according to him, Vietnam still lacks a specific and long-term investment strategy for war films, and that war films should be culturally significant artistic works.
